Palace: Duterte hands off on impeachment rap vs Sereno

alacañang on Thursday assured that President Duterte will not intervene in the impeachment case filed against Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno before the House of Representatives.

The case filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), has no endorser from Congress.

The VACC cited betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution as grounds for Sereno’s impeachment.

In a related development, House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas stressed that the impeachment complaints against the Chief Justice Sereno will be subjected to the same rigid scrutiny that congressmen applied on the failed impeachment complaint against President Duterte.

This developed as lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, author of one of two Sereno impeachment complaints, disclosed that at least a dozen congressmen have expressed willingness to endorse his complaint.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary Ana Marie Banaag on Thursday said that the President will respect the decision of anyone who will file a case against any impeachable government officer.

“We respect the decision of whoever filed the case against the Chief Justice. We stand by that,” Banaag said during the Palace press briefing Thursday morning.

“The President respects the separation of powers among government agencies. If the House of Representatives would endorse [it] then that is up to them,” she added.

“We respect any person who would file a complaint against any impeachable officer because that is within the bounds of the law. If a civilian, or anyone, would do that, then that is up to the House of Representatives,” she continued.