THE impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno appears to be a warning to the Supreme Court, Liberal Party president Francis Pangilinan said Friday.
“The impeachment complaint filed against Chief Justice Sereno, it appears, isn’t simply directed at the Chief Justice. It can very well be directed at the entire High Court,” Pangilinan said.
“Unless we act and defend our democracy and freedoms, we are well on our way to dictatorship.”
Pangilinan called on the public to join the protest rallies on Sept. 21, the 45th anniversary of the declaration of martial law.
“Stand up in defense of democracy!” he said.
Detained Senator Leila de Lima said President Rodrigo Duterte’s tirades against Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales were an indication of his desire to remove them from office.
Duterte has accused Sereno, who is now facing two impeachment complaints before the House of Representatives, of sitting on the stay order on contraceptive implants and Morales of allegedly practicing selective justice in the fight against graft and corruption.
De Lima said Duterfe cited the cases of detained former senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada, who are facing plunder charges over the alleged Priority Development Assistance Fund Scam that was exposed during the term of former President Benigno Aquino III, who appointed Morales to the post in 2011.
“Only in the President’s skewed definition of justice are these rich, influential and powerful men the poster boys for injustice,” De Lima said in a statement, referring to Revilla and Estrada.
“Clearly, Duterte would prefer that suspects be given swift justice”•but something tells me that, in the case of these two senators with whom he is obviously sympathetic, he would likely prefer that they be given their freedom despite the ongoing trial,” said De Lima who is detained on drug trafficking charges.
Sereno is facing an impeachment complaint over her alleged violation of the Constitution, corruption, other high crimes and betrayal of public trust.
Twenty-five congressmen have endorsed the impeachment complaint against her.