MANILA — The Philippines’ Supreme Court chief judge who has drawn the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte will take a “wellness” leave of absence to prepare for a possible impeachment trial, her spokesman said on Tuesday. Duterte has made no secret of his disdain for Maria Lourdes Sereno, the country’s first woman chief justice, who has voiced concern about human rights and rule of law under Duterte, but has stopped short of criticizing him directly. Sereno, 57, will be off work from Thursday, but would not be resigning, her spokesman Jojo Lacanilao said in a television interview. The announcement comes as a house justice panel nears the end of its deliberations on an impeachment complaint that accuses Sereno of omitting income from mandatory declarations dating back a decade, before she became chief justice in 2012. Duterte’s political allies dominate the 300-seat lower house and it is widely expected they will vote to impeach Sereno by the middle of next month. “It’s her personal decision,” Lacanilao said. “She’s doing it with her own reasons. Let’s not put anything into it.” He later said Sereno would consult lawyers to “prepare for the Senate trial”. If the Philippine Congress votes to impeach an official, the case goes for trial to the Senate, which now has 23 members. A two-thirds vote is needed to remove the official. Sereno would have time to think about her future, Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, said in a statement. “We hope she would take this as an opportunity to reflect on her time and legacy at the Supreme Court and to consider what would be best for the institution,” he said. In October, the president dared Sereno to open her bank account to public scrutiny, accusing her of corruption and of being used by political opponents intent on driving him from power. Sereno has not responded publicly to Duterte’s verbal attacks, but denies wrongdoing. Some of Duterte’s critics speculate that his loyalists driving the impeachment move are uncomfortable with the prospect of Sereno holding the Supreme Court’s top post until 2030, when she reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70. Sereno may become the second top judge on the Supreme Court to be impeached after Renato Corona was removed during a senate trial in 2012, also for not disclosing income. Sereno’s spokesman said she was unperturbed, and feeling no stress. “She is weathering it beautifully,” Lacanilao said. “She will go through the process, she will not resign before the process is ended.” Meanwhile in another significant development, a senior official said on Tuesday that the government will allow an investigation into alleged human rights abuses in its bloody war on drugs, but not if it is conducted by the United Nations’ current special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings. More than 30 mostly Western countries have called on the Philippines to allow the UN expert, Agnes Callamard, to look into the thousands of killings in President Rodrigo Duterte brutal 19 month-old crackdown. Callamard’s specialist areas under the United Nations are extrajudicial killings, summary and arbitrary executions. Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque, a lawyer, said the Philippines welcomed any investigation provided that the United Nations sends a “credible, objective and unbiased” rapporteur, who is also “an authority in the field that they seek to investigate”. Callamard does not fit that description, he said. “Definitely, not Agnes Callamard,” Roque told a regular news briefing. “It’s her fault the home state does not want her in.” — Reuters