By Dane Angelo M. Enerio
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday declared himself an “enemy” of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno and called on Congress to speed up her impeachment case, after she implied he had a hand in Solicitor-General Jose C. Calida’s quo warranto petition and lawyer Lorenzo G. Gadon’s impeachment complaint seeking to oust her.
“Sinasabi ko na sa iyo na hindi ako nakikialam (I have told you I never meddled),” an angry Mr. Duterte told reporters on Monday at a Davao press conference prior to his flight to China for the Bo-ao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2018.
“I’m your enemy and you have to be out of the Supreme Court,” he said, adding that he would ask House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez to “kindly fast-track the impeachment” because “she is bad for the Philippines.”
“Now this time, I’m asking the Congressmen and the Speaker, ‘Do it now.’ Huwag niyong dramahin (Do not give it much drama) or else I will do it for you,” Mr. Duterte said.
Ms. Sereno on Monday morning addressed a gathering partly organized by the Movement Against Tyranny, a group critical of the administration, and said Mr. Duterte should explain “why Sol-Gen Calida, na nagrereport sa iyo, ang nag-file nitong quo warranto petition (why Sol-Gen Calida, who reports to you, filed this quo warranto petition).”
“Surely you must explain to the people why this unconstitutional act,” she added.
She also challenged her detractors in the House of Representatives to “forward na (nila) yan sa Senado ng malaman na ng taong bayan ang totoo (forward it to the Senate so the people can know the truth.)
Mr. Duterte, for his part, said, “if you are insisting then count me in.”
“Ako na mismo ang maglakad kalaban sa iyo… daldal ng daldal, upakan kita (I will personally walk it through… I will hit you because you are so noisy),” he said.
Mr. Calida’s petition, scheduled for oral arguments today, April 10, urged the Supreme Court (SC) to have the Chief Justice’s appointment voided for her incomplete Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).
The President said Congress can go ahead with Ms. Sereno’s impeachment “because the two entities can hear it simultaneously.”
“They can proceed with the quo warranto. (The) quo warranto is the Supreme Court, impeachment is the Congress,” he said.
Sought for comment on the President’s remarks regarding co-equal branches of government, University of the Philippines (UP) law professor Antonio G.M. La Viña said, “It’s good (Mr. Duterte) ordered the Speaker to quicken things.”
“They should now send this to the Senate,” he added.
The President also compared Ms. Sereno’s impeachment case with that hounding her predecessor, the late former chief justice Renato C. Corona, saying, “Yung maestra na hindi naka file ng statement of assets, liabilities, isang maestra na mahirap lang… pinaalis niyo (the judge who was unable to file his statement of assets, liabilities, a judge that was poor, … you kicked him out).”
‘Itong babae na ito (This woman), she earned money, attorney’s fees collected from the government, ni singko centavos (not even five cents),” Mr. Duterte also said, referring to Ms. Sereno’s P30 million in legal fees as government counsel in a 2001 plunder case against the Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. (PIATCO).
Mr. Alvarez was Senior Assistant General Manger of the Manila International Airport Administration (MIAA) when PIATCO was awarded the contract for the construction of Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

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