By: Genalyn D. Kabiling
The administration has implicated Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales in an alleged opposition plot to oust President Duterte.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the President has voiced suspicions about Sereno and Morales after he recently challenged the two government officials to resign with him.
“The President believes the Supreme Court Justice and the Ombudsman have allowed themselves to be used by certain political forces to discredit him and his administration in order to spark public outrage and eventually oust him from the Presidency,” Abella said in a Palace press briefing.
“In other words, he finds them suspect. And it is his prerogative to ask them to resign,” he added.
The President, in a speech before an assembly of lawyers in Davao City last Saturday, dared the Chief Justice and the Ombudsman to resign with him over alleged irregularities. He claimed they should sign their resignation letters and allow the opening of “all the books.”
Duterte has accused the Ombudsman of administering selective justice, citing her alleged failure to swiftly act on complaints involving some Liberal Party members. He asked why Morales was prioritizing the corruption case against him over the pending cases filed before the agency.