‘Bringing Sereno issues to UN reckless, absurd’

MANILA, Philippines — Bringing the issues involving Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno before the UN is “reckless” and “absurd,” President Duterte’s chief legal counsel said.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said the effort to remove Sereno from office is being discussed in the Supreme Court so there is no need to involve the international body in the matter.

“The Supreme Court itself has already given due course to the petition and has in fact allowed Chief Justice Sereno to respond thereto. As its propriety is already being heard by the Supreme Court, these groups should have just sought remedies available to them before the said court to raise their concerns,” Panelo said in a statement.

“Involving the UN on purely internal affairs of the state is a reckless if not pitiful foray to absurdity,” he added.

Sereno, an appointee of former president Benigno Aquino III, is facing ouster moves on two fronts. She is facing an impeachment complaint over her supposed failure to file statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs), using state funds to stay in luxurious hotels, buying a Land Cruiser and delaying action on the petition for the retirement benefits of justices, judges and surviving spouses, among other allegations.

The Office of the Solicitor-General has also filed a quo warranto petition questioning the eligibility of Sereno, citing her failure to file and submit SALNs for 10 years to the Judicial and Bar Council.

Sereno has maintained that she can only be removed from her post through impeachment. She also believes Duterte is behind the quo warranto petition against her. 

The allegation drew the ire of Duterte, who responded by ordering the Office of the Solicitor General to do its best on the quo warranto petition and urging Congress to fast-track the impeachment against Sereno.

Duterte also declared that he has become an “enemy” of Sereno, who he said is “bad for the country.”

Lawyers’ groups have asked the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers to act on the President’s statements as they accused him of trying to influence the judiciary.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines, National Union of People’s Lawyers, Alternative Law Groups, Ateneo Human Rights Center, Free Legal Assistance Group, Manananggol Laban sa EJKs and the International Pro Bono Alliance believe Duterte’s tirades against Sereno threaten judicial independence.

Panelo dismissed the groups’ action as an attempt to discredit the President before the international community. 

“The statements of the President against Chief Justice Sereno are not an affront to judicial independence. They were simply reactions to Chief Justice Sereno’s voiced attacks against him,” Panelo said.

“It is Chief Justice Sereno who has infringed and continues to infringe upon executive independence by resorting to the media and taking advantage of her position as head of one of the branches of the government in expressing her dismay against this administration on account of the situation in which she put herself into,” he added.

Panelo stressed that the impeachment proceedings against Sereno are based on legal grounds and are not just political attacks.

“More importantly, the President did not initiate the impeachment proceedings against Chief Justice Sereno, nor did he play any part in the same. The proceedings were initiated by complainants before the House of Representatives, a chamber in Congress which the executive department does not have control of,” Panelo said.