For anyone at all who even thinks for a minute that the CJ Sereno impeachment is exactly the same as the CJ Corona impeachment, here’s a huge difference: Corona was a midnight appointee of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was allowed to do a midnight appointment, expressly disallowed by the Constitution but allowed by a CJ Reynato Puno Supreme Court. If that name’s familiar, he’s now in charge of the Consultative Commission for ChaCha (can you smell the stench of Prime Minister GMA?) — the rest of the story’s here. In that sense pNoy was actually and in fact undoing an illegal midnight appointment by GMA in his push to impeach Corona. At any other time, a President like Duterte would be praising pNoy for righting a wrong.

Ah, but we are in this time, when Duterte is the model of the most petty, most juvenile President this side of town — America has its own problems after all. And in this world where Duterte is king, and Congress reps and every other hooligan or clown lawyer is ready to fall at his feet and deliver whoever’s head he wants on a platter, we watched as Senator Leila de Lima was jailed for not much else but rumors and very flimsy, highly questionable proof of culpability; as we are watching Chief Justice Sereno being brought to an impeachment court. 

And no, there is absolutely no reason to believe that Duterte has nothing to do with this, that he is merely allowing the wheels of justice to turn — or whatever it is his diehard supporters are being made to believe about the victimization of Sereno. A timeline — historical fact so recent that no one has wasted time re-writing it haha — reveals how this process of impinging upon the freedom of the judiciary and threatening its existence is all by Duterte design. And when I say design, I do mean by design of chaos, disinformation, and double standards.

May 2016: Even as President-elect, Duterte was already threatening the judiciary from issuing TROs and invoking that his go-signal is enough proof that a government project is corruption-free.

“They have to stop it (issuing TROs). When I certify as president that everything is okay, kapag nag-go signal ako, ibig sabihin niyan, walang corruption, no money changed hands there. Kapag ‘di kayo maniwala, wala akong pakialam. Basta alam ko pinili ako ng Pilipino para dito sa trabahong ito. You canot implement the project because there is a TRO. The TRO simply means money for the judges.”

Aug 8 2016: CJ Sereno writes a letter to Duterte to clarify the list of judges who are part of his narcolist, tagging as “premature” Duterte’s announcement of the judges names. She also said: “I would caution them very strongly against ‘surrendering’ or making themselves physically accountable to any police officer in the absence of any duly-issued warrant of arrest that is pending.”

Aug 9 2016: Duterte goes ballistic. He threatens Martial Law.

“…ikaw ang kingpin sa judiciary. Ako, presidente. Ako may trabaho, ikaw, wala…Walang mga judges na nagpapatrol ng daan. Walang mga sheriff ninyo na naghuhuli ng… ‘Yan ang mabigat na problema ko, na-inherit ko sa dumaan [na administrasyon], pati ‘yung gobyerno na naglagay sa’yo diyan. Please, ‘wag mo akong… hindi ako gago. If this continues, pigilan mo ako eh ‘di sige. ‘Pag nagwala na…or would you rather that I will declare martial law?”

And then says he will ORDER THE EXECUTIVE NOT TO HONOR CJ SERENO.

So, ikaw ang winarningan ko, hindi ako. Do not create a crisis because I will order everybody in the executive department not to honor you. Gusto mong prangkahan? Eh nakialam kayo. May patay? Eh ‘di paimbestigahan natin. Salvage? Hindi namin trabaho ‘yan,”

And then he questioned the need for a warrant to arrest anyone at all.

“Manghingi ka ng warrant? Madam Chief Justice, you must be joking. You must be joking. Dalawa tayo abogado. Kayong lahat sa Supreme Court…do you know how long it would take to secure a warrant of arrest?”

Duterte then effectively said that he was beyond the Supreme Court.

Just because you are the Supreme Court, you order me? I will not follow you. Orderan mo ako? Bahala kayo diyan.

And pitched federalism.

Siguro Ma’am I can give you an idea. Pagka-binilisan lang ‘yang federalism, at nalinis ko sa droga ang Pilipinas, I am ready to retire. Kung ma-ready ‘yang federalism by two years from now, three years from now, I will give way. And I tell you, I am good for retirement,

Aug 11 2016: Duterte apologizes to Sereno for his “harsh words.”

“I apologize to the Chief Justice for the harsh words I’ve said, it was never intended. <…> Because of the magnitude of the (drug) problem, it was my way of solving the  problem within the ambit of my power as President.”

Sereno accepts the apology and ends the word war.

Aug 25 2016: Sereno talks war on drugs.

“What [the judiciary] provides is justice to the state and the victims if there is enough evidence of guilt—and to the accused if there is none. <…> What will allow us to survive as a nation is the rule of law.”

Sereno talks about impunity:

“I am alarmed by the situation of impunity in our country whereby our court processes are not effected by law enforcement agencies, especially in arresting suspects in the killing of journalists.”

She also called on the independence of the judiciary given a question about the courtesy calls of justices to Duterte: “We must be perceived as giving no occasion for people to doubt our independence and integrity.”

Sandiganbayan Associate Justices Jose Hernandez, Alex Quiroz, Samuel Martires and Geraldine Faith Econg, as well as 36 Court of Appeals justices had paid courtesy calls to the President in August 2016 alone.

Dec 22 2016: Duterte hints at the difficulty of having a Supreme Court that might not decide in the same way as Congress.

The Martial Law powers are subject to review by the Supreme Court and by Congress. Kung mag­declare ako ng Martial Law at may invasion ngayon o giyera, I cannot proceed on and on, lalo na kung may gulo, pupunta pa ako sa Congress, pupunta pa ako doon sa Supreme Court. <…> Eh kung magulo ang mundo? Kaya nga Martial Law na eh. Para isang tao na lang ang mag­direkta. Eh ngayon ang problema niyan, kung finding sa Supreme Court at ‘yung findings ng Congress magkalaban, hindi na alam ng pulis kung saan siya magbigti, ‘yung… [laughter] Pati biik pati ‘yung mga president kung saan siya mag­dive. Eh kung iba ang Supreme Court, magsabi ang Congress yes, no ito, or no ito, yes itong isa. Saan mo ako ilagay?

Duterte then declares in no uncertain terms that change was coming: “Kaya kailangan ko talagang palitan ‘yan. But there is a safety measure there. I’ll just tell you later. Anyway, papunta doon.” <emphasis mine>

Click here for Part 2 of the CJSereno VS Duterte: Timeline to Impeachment.