Ex-CA presiding justice says Sereno ordered them to cancel courtesy call with Duterte

Supreme Court Associate Justice Andres Reyes on Monday said Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno had ordered him to cancel the courtesy call of Court of Appeals (CA) justices with President Rodrigo Duterte, even telling him that pushing through with the meeting "might end his career."

Reyes, a former CA presiding justice, made the claim as he confirmed the allegation against Sereno in the impeachment complaint that she prevented CA justices to do a courtesy call on the President.

At the resumption of the House Committee on Justice's hearing on the impeachment complaint, Reyes narrated what transpired during his meeting with several CA justices and Sereno herself.

He said that after Duterte's election in 2016, CA associate justices Agnes Reyes-Castro and Socorro Enting came up to him expressing their intention to be introduced to the President.

They then talked about trying to contact the Office of the President to get an available date.

"Once we get an available date, we would be sending a letter or a request. The talks centered on that until the day I was given the date the President is available," Reyes said.

After getting a date, Reyes prepared a letter and showed it to Reyes-Castro. She agreed with the contents of the letter, which was then sent to Malacanang. They also sent a copy to the Office of the Chief Justice.

"Then I got a call from the Chief Justice who told me to go to her office," Reyes said. "When I arrived at the Office of the Chief Justice, she was smiling at me and she said, I don't like your letter. Your letter is insulting to me and the en banc. You make it appear that we are not doing anything here in the Supreme Court. Your letter is discussing the problems with the President and that's an insult to us. She said, You are a big embarrassment to me."

Reyes said he apologized to Sereno for bypassing the Supreme Court in sending the letter to Malacañang. Sereno then told him that the President was loquacious, and they might be silenced when they meet him.

"Again, I apologize. She told me, this might end your career. So again, I apologized. I said, Ma'am I really didn't mean to bypass the Supreme Court or you, I don't have a mean bone in my body," Reyes said.

"She told me, You better cancel that courtesy call to Malacañang. So I said yes, Ma'am. I cancelled that courtesy call," he added.

"So I went back to the office, I called for some justices including Justice Reyes-Carpio, I told her that in the meantime let's cancel the courtesy call. I think the next day I went again to the Office of the Chief Justice. If I remember right, I told her I already met with some justices and the meeting was already cancelled," he continued.

Asked for comment, lawyer Josa Deinla, one of Sereno's spokespersons, said the Chief Justice only told Reyes to cancel the courtesy call as she wanted to resolve the issues of the judiciary within themselves.

"Yung mga problema sa bakuran ng hudikatura ay dapat nireresolba ng mismong Supreme Court," she said.

"Yun lamang ang gustong mangyari ni chief justice noong mga panahong 'yon. 'Yung mga gustong isangguni ni Justice Reyes sa pangulo ay dapat isangguni sa Supreme Court en banc," she added.

The House Committee on Justice is conducting deliberations to determine probable cause on the impeachment complaint lodged against Sereno. —KBK, GMA News