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| Randy David / CJ Lourdes Sereno photo file |
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno seems to be preparing in
advance for any eventuality regarding the cases she is about to face.
The embattled chief justice is currently facing 2 legal hurdles,
an impeachment complaint, wherein Senate is only waiting for the articles of
incorporation for it to constitute themselves as an impeachment court.
The other one is from the Office of the Solicitor General
which asked the Supreme Court to oust the top magistrate through a quo warranto
proceeding.
In relation to this, here’s an interesting article which was
written by Randy David from the Philippine Inquirer, “Conflicting thoughts on
CJ Sereno” – published on March 4, 2018, who describes the CJ not fit anymore
for her post.
"I am not myself a great fan of the Chief Justice. My one and
only personal encounter with then Professor Meilou Sereno at the University of
the Philippines was fleeting, but it left me with such a disturbing impression
of her that I have since thought it prudent to avoid being in a conversation
with her. Certainly, I had very strong reservations when President Benigno
Aquino III appointed her to replace Chief Justice Renato Corona, who, despite
being disgraced and impeached, had remained popular with the Court staff.
I have always thought that President Aquino, who, back in
2010, questioned Chief Justice Corona’s midnight appointment by the outgoing
Arroyo administration, missed a crucial opportunity to restore a sense of order
at the high court when he appointed a very junior magistrate like Justice
Sereno to the position of chief justice. In so doing, like Arroyo before him
who put a higher premium on loyalty than on what was good for the institution,
he bypassed very senior magistrates, including Senior Associate Justice Antonio
Carpio.
I have strong doubts about the impeachability of the
offenses with which Chief Justice Sereno is charged. But whether she is removed
from her position or not, I don’t think, judging from her recent troubles with
her fellow magistrates, which seem symptomatic of her relationship with most of
them, that she is in any position to effectively lead the Court.
The Court is indeed a collegial body. But an ethic of
seniority usually pervades such settings. Chief Justice Sereno’s appointment
brazenly stood this ethic on its head. Under the circumstances, it would have
required a large reservoir of people skills and humility on her part to
neutralize the resentment that would have been generated by her appointment.
But, from the start, she didn’t seem inclined to do that.
She displayed such a disconcerting sense of being anointed that one would think
she was being named to an ecclesiastical rather than to a state office. At her
first flag-raising ceremony at the Court grounds, for instance, she told the
assembled employees: “The whole world is witness that this appointment is God’s
will … Only God put me in this position. It seemed like it was time to give the
leadership of the Supreme Court to one of his humble servants.” "
Source: Philstar, ThePHChronicles
2 Comments
She's a Dreamer, no wait, let me put it more gently, she's a Nightmarer. She thinks highly of herself to the detriment of her colleagues and the truth. Pity her
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't God who appointed her but a corrupt official as well who thought he could get away with all his misgivings by anointing a young and newbe to the highest judicial body hoping she would last a long time to watch over him so Pinoy could dance away from prosecutions long after his term has expired.
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