Duterte on quo warranto case against him: I live my destiny

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday indicated that he is willing to step down if the petition filed with the Supreme Court to remove him from office succeeded.

Duterte is facing a "quo warranto" petition filed by lawyer and former nuisance presidential bet Elly Pamatong on the grounds that his certificate of candidacy was not approved by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The Comelec en banc, however, accepted Duterte's candidacy, as a substitute for then anti-crime advocate and now Interior Undersecretary Martin Diño, in December 2015. Duterte went on to win the May 2016 election with 16.6 million votes and a margin of over six million votes over his closest rival.

"Delikado rin ako kay Pamatong. Patong-patong ‘yang problema natin pero sige lang," the President said in a speech during the 117th anniversary of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) in Pasay City.

"Kung hanggang diyan lang ako, I live my destiny. So hanggang diyan lang ako, hanggang diyan lang ako. ‘Di masyado ako niyang 'oust, oust.' For all you know, I would be happy to step down. Kung pabalikin mo ako, I really do not know. I would not want to betray also those who have kept faith in me."

Malacañang dismissed Pamatong's challenge as "utterly bereft of legal and factual merit" even as it vowed to comply with the high court's order for Duterte to respond to the petition.

Pamatong filed the petition on June 6, weeks after the SC ruled in favor of the quo warranto case lodged by Solicitor General Jose Calida against former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Sereno was found guilty of unlawfully holding her post with the SC, with the majority decision citing her lack of integrity due to incomplete submission of wealth declarations when she applied for the top judicial post in 2012.

The decision to remove Sereno attained finality on June 19. — BM, GMA News