Lawyers ask UN rapporteur to act on Duterte tirades against CJ Sereno

MANILA — Lawyers' groups, headed by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, have asked a United Nations special rapporteur to take action on President Rodrigo Duterte's attacks against the judiciary.

The groups submitted a report to Diego Garcia-Sayan, special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, narrating the actions of the Duterte government that would "impact negatively" on the independence of judges and lawyers.

The report described how the government failed to adhere to the basic principles on the independence of the judiciary.

"The recent tirades of the president against the chief justice do not sound at all foreboding. They rather expectedly punctuate the long-winded attacks on judicial independence that began almost two years ago, when the chief justice dared resist an apparent intrusion into judicial power," the groups said.

Earlier this month, Duterte publicly threatened Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, head of the co-equal judicial branch.

In a speech during the commemoration of the Araw ng Kagitingan on April 9, Duterte declared that he is Sereno's "enemy" and that she will have to be "out" of the Supreme Court.

The president then called on the Congress, the co-equal legislative branch, to fast track the impeachment proceedings against Sereno.