'I should have gone to Xi Jinping!' Sereno quips

MANILA, Philippines — Maria Lourdes Sereno, whose appointment as chief justice was voided by the Supreme Court last week,  took a swipe at President Rodrigo Duterte Thursday for his friendly ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“The president said that he could not be ousted due to what Xi Jinping said. I should have gone to Mr. Xi Jinping then,” she said in Filipino.

Her remark drew cheers and applause from the audience at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-led forum Quo Vadis Quo Warranto on Thursday afternoon.

READ: Duterte: China has assured me it will not allow Philippines to be destroyed

“If that is the case, I should have gone to Beijing instead, and talked to political lieutenants of Mr. Xi Jinping,” Sereno added.

A fiery Sereno earlier in the day challenged Duterte to step down since, she said, it is clear that he had a hand in her removal from the Supreme Court.

Duterte, in a speech in Casiguran, Aurora on Tuesday, said: "The assurances of [President] Xi Jinping were very encouraging. Eh, they are there. 'We will not allow you to be taken out from your office, and we will not allow the Philippines to go to the dogs.'"

China has been deploying weapons and military aircraft on its three outposts in the Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea, which the Philippines also claims.

Impeachment against Duterte?

Sereno also asked whether Duterte’s apparent cozying up to China at the expense of Manila's claims in the South China Sea could be grounds for latter’s impeachment.

“Those things, praises that he says about the government of China, are those qualified as an impeachment offense?” she said.

Earlier last year, an impeachment rap against Duterte was filed by Rep. Gary Alejano (Magdalo party-list), citing the chief executive’s alleged violation of the constitution. The solon said that Duterte should be removed from his position due to his refusal to assert the country’s exclusive sovereign rights against China.

The House Committee on Justice, led by Rep. Reynaldo Umali (Oriental Mindoro), junked Alejano’s complaint. The panel said that the Magdalo representative failed to prove “personal knowledge” of his allegations.

READ: House panel formally junks Duterte impeachment

Sereno, meanwhile, was ousted after her colleagues voted to grant the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.

She is currently working on overturning the decision through a motion for reconsideration she and her legal team will later file. She argues that the constitution only allows her removal via impeachment—a power vested in Congress—and not via Calida’s petition that challenged her appointment.

Before her ouster, Sereno landed in Duterte 's crosshairs for her remarks against the administration’s war on drugs that has claimed at more than four thousand of Filipino lives. Critics and human rights groups have higher estimates of the number of drug-related deaths.

RELATED: Monsod: Senate should assert its power on removal of chief justice