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China won’t allow Duterte ouster? I wish I also talked to Xi’s lieutenants, Sereno says


Former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Thursday taunted President Rodrigo Duterte for allegedly singing paeans to China and even bragging that the Chinese leaders will not allow his political foes to depose him.

Sereno with apparent sarcasm indicated she could have also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping's officials to ask that she remain at her post as Chief Justice.

"'Yun naman po pala eh, sana sa Beijing na lang ako pumunta, at kinausap ko ang mga political lieutenants ni Mr. Xi Jinping," Sereno said at a forum in Pasig City.

"Gayun naman pala, ang accountability niya ay sa Tsina. Eh di ganun din po pala, akala ko ang accountability ko ay sa PIlipino," she added.

Sereno was reacting to Duterte's recent remark that Xi gave him "encouraging" "assurances" that China would not allow him to be ousted from power.

Duterte later clarified that the statement was relayed to him by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua at the time when the "yellows"—the political opposition identified with the Liberal Party—the Magdalo party-list and leftist groups were calling for his ouster.

Duterte has also said that he loved Xi and that he needed China "more than anybody else" at the present time in the Philippines' "national life."

The Duterte administration temporarily set aside an international court victory that invalidated Beijing's excessive claims to the South China Sea in order to avoid confrontation with the Asian giant. 

Sereno, whose public statements have recently been more explicitly anti-Duterte, wondered aloud if the Chief Executive's "praises" for China could be a basis for impeachment.

"'Yung pagsasabi niya ng lahat ng papuri tungkol sa gobyernong Tsina, papasok po ba 'yun sa mga grounds for impeachment?" Sereno said.

Under the 1987 Charter, the grounds for impeachment are culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust.

Sereno dared Duterte to "admit" his real plans for the country.

"Kaya po ba nating tanggapin na ang protektor ng ating pangulo ay isang banyagang gobyerno?" Sereno asked a crowd of lawyers and supporters.

"Eh di aminin na po niya [kung] ano po ba talaga ang plano niya para sa bayan. Gawin nga po ba talaga tayong probinsiya ng China, sabihin na po niya, makipagtapatan na siya," Sereno said.

Earlier in the day, she questioned the current Philippine leadership's seeming subservience to a foreign power.

"Saan ka na nakakita na ang pamumuno ngayon ay parang yumuyuko sa isang kapangyarihang banyaga, saan kaya nakakita na lahat na lamang ng excuse o pagpapa-justify sa ginagawa ng gobyernong Instik ay pinapayagan at sinusulong pa nga?" Sereno said at an event at the Ateneo de Manila University.

Sereno was ousted by a majority vote of her colleagues at the Supreme Court, as it granted a pleading filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida, a Duterte appointee, questioning the validity of her appointment as top judge over allegedly missing wealth declarations. —NB, GMA News