Karen Jimeno apologized for posting a viral tweet, which was then deleted.
Jimeno, who was recently appointed undersecretary for disaster resiliency, admitted she did not communicate her views well when she criticized those who were not legal experts but were making comments on social media about the historic Supreme Court decision to remove Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
“I apologized for that because I think I wasn’t able to communicate it well,” Jimeno said in an interview. “I should have added there let us be discerning when reading all comments or making comments.”
In her May 11 tweet, the former undersecretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways seemed to infer some of those expressing their opinions following Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s ouster as “fools,” quoting Plato in the process.
The tweet were met with “emotionally charged” responses, which affected her.
“I deleted that tweet because it was stressing me out. I’m married and I don’t have children; my doctor says avoiding stress will help me conceive,” Jimeno said in an interview.
When Jimeno saw the negative reactions, she decided to take the tweet down for adding “no value to the discussion.”
“It doesn’t really have any constructive addition or contribution to the issue,” she said.
Why she tweeted it in the first place
Jimeno, who was counsel to impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2011, said she was feeling “bad” that some people were judging Sereno, who was her professor in law school, solely based on the ruling.
Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, one of the justices who dissented to the majority’s decision to remove the chief justice, was also her professor and dean at the University of the Philippines College of Law, Jimeno said.
Interestingly, Malacañang’s new undersecretary also disagreed with those who denounced the justices who voted for the quo warranto decision as “biased.” She noted that the decision was still not final, given the period for Sereno and her lawyers to file a motion for reconsideration.
She admitted that she herself does not have a personal position yet on the controversial decision.
Jimeno joined the Presidential Management Staff as the undersecretary for disaster resilience after being appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte on May 16.
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Karen Jimeno deletes tweet about ‘legal experts’ on social media