President insists CJ, Ombudsman resign

Chief Justice (CJ) Lourdes Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales should accept the challenge to resign and open their bank records if they are not really corrupt, President Duterte said last Thursday.

The President said he and two other government officials should “go quietly into the night” after working in government for so long.

“If you are really honest, tutal [besides] you have been there for several years, including me. Why don’t we just resign?” Duterte said during an agribusiness expo in Pasay City last Thursday.

“Kung talagang hindi kayo salbahe, hindi kayo magnanakaw… hindi (If you are not really bad, you are not thieves), you are qualified to hold the job, you should accept my dare,” he added.

Both Sereno and Morales have refused to heed the President’s challenge to resign with him despite allegations of corruption and partiality. Sereno’s camp claimed the Chief Justice has done nothing unlawful to merit her resignation. Morales, on the other hand, said she would not be baited into abandoning her constitutional duties.

Solidarity with OMB

Yesterday, several opposition groups trooped to the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) on Agham Road, Quezon City to hold a solidarity mass for Morales.

The Holy Mass, which was spearheaded by groups such as Tindig Pilipinas, The Silent No More Organization, Magdalo, Prayer Battalion for Truth and Justice, among many others, was conducted as Duterte challenged Morales to resign from her position amidst corruption allegations.

Fr. Robert Reyes led the mass, which was attended by well-known personalities affiliated with the former Aquino administration. Among those in attendance were former Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Dinky Soliman, former Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, and former Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Chair Etta Rosales.

Sereno impeachment

Meanwhile at the Batasan, Assistant Minority Leader and ABS Partylist Rep. Eugene Michael De Vera said the impeachment complaint filed against Sereno by Dante Jimenez and Eligio Mallari may have been rejected by the justice panel for insufficiency in form but this does not mean that the case is dead.

“In the first complaint vs Sereno, it is not yet dead because surely the disposition will be included in the final report of the first and second complaints by the committee. The plenary with 1/3 or more of all members may still revive the said complaint,” De Vera said.

On the other hand, the second case against Sereno, filed by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, has moved to the third phase of the impeachment process after the Committee on Justice found sufficient ground to pursue it.

De Vera said the justice committee will submit to the plenary its report on the two impeachment cases against Sereno as soon as the body has resolved them.