DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has advised the Office of the President to be wary of a judge, whom she did not name, who is reportedly lobbying for himself a slot in the Supreme Court (SC) and using the presidential daughter’s disbarment case as passport to get the appointment.
“It has come to my attention that certain individuals are talking to the petitioners and witnesses in the disbarment case filed against me, asking them to withdraw their complaint,” Duterte-Carpio said in a news statement released by her office in Davao City on Wednesday.
Behind the lobbying, the mayor said, is “an individual seeking appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court”.
“This person has been trying to spin my case to get a favorable ruling — hoping that I may take notice of him,” she added. She did not name the judge, but Duterte kept repeating the masculine form of the pronoun “he” to refer to the individual.
“This individual should take note that I do not have a hand in Supreme Court appointments. That is beyond my authority as mayor of Davao City,” she said. The mayor said her father, President Duterte, “should think twice in appointing this individual to be a Justice — more so a Chief Justice.”
“He (the unnamed judge) clearly lacks the virtues of honor, justice, and fairness,” she said.
“So the public may know, I have never asked any complainant or witness to withdraw their disbarment case against me as I have always maintained that I will face the consequences of my actions on that fateful day of July 1, 2011,” the mayor said, adding no one should believe individuals “making representations on my behalf.”
Mayor Sara is facing a disbarment case filed on August 8, 2011 by the Sheriffs Confederation of the Philippines, Inc. (Scophil), who reacted to her hitting of one of its members here during a shanty demolition on July 1 that year.
Duterte-Carpio punched Sheriff Abe Andres of the Davao City Regional Trial Court Branch 16 on July 1 after the sheriff reportedly proceeded with the demolition despite his earlier assurance that he would not do so in Agdao, Davao City, until she has arrived from overseeing the relief operations in another barangay where more than 30 people died in a flashflood the night earlier.
Scophil officers Patermoscio Labayani, Roberto Galing and Fernando Regino filed the five-page complaint-affidavit for the disbarment of Mayor Duterte before the Office of the Bar Confidant at the Supreme Court, accusing the mayor of violating provisions of the Code of Professional Responsibility.