MANILA (AFP) - The chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court on Wednesday accused President Benigno Aquino of plotting a 'dictatorship', and vowed to fight for his job after parliament impeached him.
Mr Renato Corona rejected accusations against him of unlawfully protecting ex-president Gloria Arroyo, and appealed for popular support to resist what what he said was an assault on the judiciary's independence.
'What they are trying to sow is a dictatorship... I will oppose the looming dictatorship of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III,' Mr Corona said in a speech to about 500 black-clad court workers outside the Supreme Court.
Mr Aquino's allies in parliament impeached Mr Corona on Monday over charges his 15-member court had made a series of rulings that hindered the prosecution of Mrs Arroyo, who was arrested last month for vote rigging.
