Sereno says Duterte will have day of reckoning

June 19, 2018

Ousted Supreme Court (SC)  Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said President Rodrigo Duterte will soon have his day of reckoning after she accused him of  instigating her removal.

“Truth has a way of coming out eventually. And he (Duterte)  is making a mistake if he thinks the Filipino is so easily fooled,” Sereno said in a speech before supporters at the University of the Philippines Diliman campus in Quezon City a few hours after the SC affirmed with finality its earlier decision ousting her.

Sereno accused Duterte of weakening the rule of law as well as sowing dissension.

“The responsibility for the weakening of the rule of law is his. He has admitted that sowing intrigue and planting evidence have been part of his practice,” she said.

“To deflect attention from his guilt, he constantly proclaims that he will resign if proof is shown of his participation in each new debacle for the rule of law. And yet, when reminded of his public pronouncements and the conformable acts of his supporters, he and his people retort: is that proof?,” added Sereno.

Sereno said she continue to speak in defending the country against Duterte's policies.

“We are fighting against the viciousness the president has unleashed against the poor, the women, the religious, the lumads, the workers, whom he has directly or indirectly branded as his enemies,” said Sereno.

Sereno accused Duterte's allies at the House of Representatives  of holding the budget of the judiciary hostage to ensure cooperation from the SC in her removal.

Sereno said SC spokesman Theodore Te told her Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Farinas had told Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta the Lower House has suspended deliberations on the budget of the judiciary.

“The message was clear - the House leadership was going to hold hostage the Judiciary’s budget unless the Supreme Court cooperated fully with its plan to remove me,” she said. DMS