Stepping up his attack on the countrys chief graft buster, President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday said

he wanted Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales impeached.

At the same time, Mr. Duterte said he wanted to file a new impeachment case against Chief Justice
Maria Lourdes Sereno for failing to declare her earnings from the Piatco case in her statement of assets,
liabilities and net worth, for using luxury cars and for staying in hotel suites.

There is already a pending impeachment complaint against Sereno in the House of Representatives.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Presidents latest attack on Ombudsman Morales came after she refused to back down on her
agencys probe of Mr. Duterte and his familys bank transactions before he won the presidency.

The President also claimed there was an alliance between the Left and the yellows to oust him from
power.

They want me removed from Malacaang, said Mr. Duterte. Malacaang earlier accused Morales and
Sereno of being part of a plot to oust the President.

Mr. Duterte said he would file the impeachment case against Morales for practicing selective justice and
for using falsified evidence, referring to the purported Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC)
documents in the antigraft agencys possession.

Part of conspiracy

We will file an impeachment case against her and I would tend to believe she was part of the
conspiracy, the fabricated papers, Mr. Duterte told reporters.

Mr. Duterte accused Morales and Sereno of working with his archcritic, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who
has accused Mr. Duterte of racking up more than P2 billion in bank transactions from 2006 to 2015.

Asked how he would respond to the impression that his moves against the Ombudsman and the Chief
Justice could be seen as an attack on the governments checks and balance system, the President said he
was retaliating for the womens supposed actions against him.

ADVERTISEMENT

They did it first, he said. I did not start this ruckus. I was quiet. The problem is they allowed Trillanes
to rope them in. Its Trillanes who will bring this country down to the dogs.

The Office of the Ombudsmans fact-finding probe of the Duterte familys bank transactions was based
on a complaint filed by Trillanes.

In a privilege speech on Tuesday, Trillanes said the AMLC had flagged the Presidents transactions in
2006-2015. More than P50 million went into Mr. Dutertes bank accounts 13 times during the period,
according to the senator.
The President has denied Trillanes allegations.

I said, in the end, to their sorrow, they would discover that theres no such thing as that amount, he
said.

Mr. Duterte said he would resign if anyone could find more than P40 million in his account with Land
Bank of the Philippines.

The accounts of Mr. Duterte that Trillanes was referring to, however, were those with Bank of the
Philippine Islands and Banco de Oro.

AMLC papers stolen

The President said the purported AMLC documents in the Office of the Ombudsmans possession could
not be used as evidence in court because these were stolen by an Abad from the council.

He did not know Abads first name, he said, when asked if he was referring to former AMLC Executive
Director Julia Bacay-Abad.

He said Abad, who he alleged was Trillanes mistress, supposedly gave to the senator the documents she
had stolen. The senator denied any romantic relationship with Abad.

She gave it to Trillanes, (who) gave it to [Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Rodolfo] Elman, the
Ombudsman for Mindanao because Im a resident there in Mindanao, then gave it to Morales. Now
theyre all washing their hands of it, including Elman, he said.

No clearance

Mr. Duterte said Morales had no AMLC clearance and should not have entered into the situation,
especially since the evidence was illegally obtained.

Anything that was improperly obtained could not be used as evidence, he said. Even if authentic
documents are released, these would not be of any use, he added.

The problem is, even if the central bank releases authentic ones, I will say, those are the fruits of the
poisonous tree, he said.

You knew about that account that was stolen and made it public. Therefore, you cannot use it in any
other proceeding, even if its real. Its of no use because you have an official who is the Ombudsman
who is part of the fabrication and the use of falsified documents, he added.

In the House of Representatives, the Makabayan bloc told Mr. Duterte to back off and leave Morales
alone.

The group slammed the President for vilifying and intimidating the Office of the Ombudsman from its
constitutional mandate to investigate the alleged hidden and ill-gotten wealth of the President.
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/935682/duterte-to-file-impeachment-complaints-vs-sereno-
morales#ixzz4uaf5Fyrf

Follow us: @inquirerdotnet on Twitter | inquirerdotnet on Facebook