(Eagle News) — The Palace has refused to dignify Maria Lourdes Sereno’s call for President Rodrigo Duterte to resign for what she claimed was his role behind the Supreme Court decision nullifying her appointment as Chief Justice.
“Ayaw ko na po magkomento diyan at tingin ko po ang Presidente ayaw na ring magkomento,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a radio interview.
In making the call for the resignation during a forum organized by her supporters on Thursday, May 17, Sereno noted President Duterte’s previous remark she was an “enemy of the state.”
But Duterte appeared to have made the remark after being ticked off by Sereno, who had repeatedly accused him of the same despite his repeated denials.
Roque has also said it was “out of character” for the President to interfere in the affairs of other departments within the executive branch, more so in the affairs of other branches of government.
In nullifying her appointment with a vote of 8-6 by granting the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida, the Supreme Court dismissed Sereno’s claims an impeachable official could only be removed via impeachment.
In its 153-page decision, the High Court traced the history of quo warranto and impeachment, concluding the first was judicial in nature, and the second political in nature.
Also citing pertinent cases, the High Court therefore concluded that quo warranto proceedings and impeachment proceedings could proceed “independently and simultaneously.”