MANILA, Philippines – Saying she didn’t live beyond her means and had been cautious in utilizing public funds, Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno on Thursday defended herself from the allies of President Rodrigo Durerte who want her kicked out of office.
“I have always lived a life of modesty. I have been prudent in the use of court’s resources…My travels, vehicle requirements are all regular and above board…The record will speak for itself,” the chief justice said on Thursday, August 24, when asked by reporters during the “CJ Meets the Press” event in Cebu on how impeachment threats had been affecting her.
“Alam mo, ‘yan ang masarap sa malinis ang konsensya [You know, it feels good when one’s conscience is clear… it does not affect me,” she added.
At the same time, despite her strained relationship with the President, Sereno, an appointee of former President Benigno Aquino III, said Duterte still deserved to be respected as he remained the country’s highest leader.
“(H)e is the President of the Philippines we owe him all respect, the fact he has a mandate… We must observe what the Constitution says. I’m very professional with my dealings with all officials of government,” she said after reporters asked her about her relationship with Duterte.
Last Tuesday, Duterte criticized an unnamed government official, who is not from the executive branch, for booking first class flights and staying in expensive hotels, including a presidential suite.
The President said details about the official’s lavish lifestyle would soon come out.
On Thursday, Sereno said she didn’t know who Duterte was referring to and also didn’t feel that the chief executive was implying that she was the official.
“Well, that’s his revelation. I don’t know who he is talking of. Definitely I don’t feel alluded to,” she said.
While Sereno admitted that she had stayed in a presidential suit in Boracay in 2015 during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean) judicial leaders, she said she was just invited to stay there.
“You invite the chief justices of the Asean there, photo-taking session happened there, so what do you do, you sleep in the suite, right? That’s it? Does it mean I took a presidential suite? I did not,” said Sereno.
Impeach raps without endorsers
Earlier this month, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption sent to the House of Representatives an impeachment complaint against the chief justice, accusing her of granting travel allowances to her staffers even allegedly without the approval of the court en banc.
But no lawmaker has so far endorsed the complaint.
A second impeachment complaint against Sereno was also delivered by lawyer Larry Gadon to the Lower Chamber on August 2, which was not also endorsed by House members.
Gadon, president of Pro-Duterte Constitutional Reformers to Federalism, alleged that Sereno had betrayed public trust when the Supreme Court bought for her a sport utility vehicle for P5.1 million, which the lawyer claimed was “immodest and extravagant,” especially when the highest leader of the land only uses a second-hand vehicle.
He alleged that Sereno did not immediately use the car because she wanted it bulletproof, which would require another P3 million from the judiciary fund.
Gadon also alleged that Sereno did not include in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth the nearly P16 million in legal fees that Sereno reportedly received when she was still among the lawyers who were hired to defend the government against the complaint filed against it by Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc., the builder of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3, before an international court.
He said that Judge Carlos Valenzuela of the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court-Branch 213 found the legal fees illegal and excessive. The case is now pending before the Court of Appeals, according to Gadon.
Last August 15, the Supreme Court en banc approved Gadon’s request for the release of documents that he would use in his ouster move against Sereno.
Among the documents requested by Gadon, which he obtained on Thursday, August 24, is the list of Sereno’s official local and foreign travels since 2012 to present, including the list of persons who had accompanied the chief justice in her trips.
The list also contains the details of Sereno’s expenses “including airfare, accommodations, all kinds of allowances, including those shouldered by development partners.”
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