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[av_heading heading=’Justice hits Sereno’s ‘arbitrary decisions’ ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – A Supreme Court justice on Thursday has called on her colleagues to look into Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for making “arbitrary decisions” without informing her fellow justices.
The chief justice’s orders should have prior approval by the Supreme Court en banc, Senior Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro said in a memo.
“The Constitution vests upon the Supreme Court the power to ‘appoint all officials and employees of the judiciary in accordance with civil service laws,’” de Castro said.
“Hence, unless duly delegated by a court resolution, the power to appoint court officials and employees can only be exercised by the court en banc,” she added.
Sereno gave her staffers traveling abroad allowances and appointed Brenda Jay Mendoza to the Philippine Mediation Center (PMC) of the Philippine Judicial Academy (Philja) with approval from the court en banc, said de Castro.
According to de Castro, “every (Supreme Court) justice has to secure” en banc approval “to be authorized to travel abroad on official business.”
Meanwhile, “no Philja board resolution recommending Atty. Mendoza as PMC chief was submitted to the Court for action,” she said. “Administrative Order No. 33-2008 was not followed in the appointment of Atty. Mendoza.”
De Castro also noted in her five-page memorandum the “long delay in the filling up” of vacancies in senior posts in the high court, including two positions for assistant court administrator.
“The request remained unheeded by the chief justice even up to now,” she said. “The vacancy in the other assistant court administrator position has not been posted at all up to this time.”
This was not the first time Sereno was questioned for issuing orders allegedly without consulting the tribunal.
In 2012, the high court revoked the Nov. 27, 2012 resolution Sereno issued allowing the reopening of the Regional Court Administration Office./PN
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