President Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday that it is better for Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to quit.

In a press conference in Davao City shortly after his arrival from Hong Kong, Duterte said having an "ignorant" chief magistrate for a long time would risk turning the country into chaos.

"If you are smart, strong, and you don't commit mistakes in your declarations, no one will fight you. If you are that ignorant, you better go. You are just risking the country into a chaos," he said.

"And in the first place, you should not be there. And that term of yours --- until what? 2030? That’s --- that’s too long for an ignorant Chief Justice. It’s too long. Give way. If I were you, I will resign," Duterte stressed.

He said his call to impeach Sereno was directed to his partymates at the House of Representatives.

But he said it would still be up to the House to decide on the chief magistrate's impeachment process and for the Senate on whether it would convict her once the case reaches the Upper Chamber.

Sereno has said Duterte could have been really behind the move to oust her after he declared her as his enemy and called Congress to remove her before leaving for China and Hong Kong early this week.

Aside from the impeachment case, a quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida, government lawyer, to declare Sereno's appointment as void has been pending before the Supreme Court. Celerina Monte/DMS