Sereno takes oath as the first woman Chief Justice

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MANILA, Philippines—Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno took her oath before President Benigno Aquino in Malacañang Saturday morning, without the senior justices of the Supreme Court.

Apart from Sereno’s family, academicians and Cabinet officials, only Supreme Court Justices Martin Villarama Jr., Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Mariano del Castillo and Bienvenido Reyes turned up at her oath-taking in the Palace.

Besides appointing Sereno as the Philippine’s first woman chief justice, Aquino also broke tradition by not picking the head of the judiciary from among the five most senior justices of the Supreme Court. In seniority, Sereno ranks 13th among the 14 justices on the court. Aquino still has to appoint a 15th member.

The five top senior justices are Antonio Carpio, who acted as chief justice after Renato Corona was removed by impeachment last May 29, Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion and Diosdado Peralta (who declined his nomination for chief justice).

Other candidates on the short list submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council to the President were Carpio, De Castro, Brion and Associate Justice Roberto Abad, along with Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, former representative Ronaldo Zamora and former Ateneo College of Law dean Cesar Villanueva.

Carpio, De Castro, Brion, Abad, Velasco and Peralta were absent from Sereno’s oath-taking, and so were Associate Justices Lucas Bersamin, Jose Perez and Jose Mendoza.

Strategic Communication Secretary Ricky Carandang refused to read any meaning in their absence.

“I don’t think it’s fair to speculate in that way,” Carandang said when reporters asked him if he thought the absence of the senior justices meant they were not taking Sereno’s appointment well.  “As far as I know Sereno’s appointment was very widely viewed as a positive development.”

He added that Sereno was a “person of competence and integrity who, we all hope, will reform the judiciary and make it more responsive to the needs of ordinary people.”

Aquino administered the oath to Sereno, who entered Rizal Hall beaming, in simple, brief rites at around 10 a.m. Saturday. Her husband Mario Jose Sereno, daughter Sophia and son Jose Lorenzo stood behind her.

Also on hand to witness the oath-taking were former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Carandang, and Sereno’s former colleagues at the University of the Philippines’ College of Law, among others.

Sereno, who at 52 has 18  years to serve as chief magistrate, declined media interviews.

She later stopped by the wake for the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who perished in a plane crash in Masbate last Saturday afternoon, at the Kalayaan Hall.

Hours after Aquino received Robredo’s remains for a two-day wake on Friday, Malacañang afternoon announced Sereno’s appointment, three days ahead of the 90-day deadline that ends Monday.

De Lima, supposedly Malacañang’s “bet’’ for the top Supreme Court post until she was disqualified by the JBC because of a pending administrative case, praised Sereno’s appointment.

“She’s an excellent choice. She’ll be a very good CJ. Her youth, her dynamism and her brilliance would go a long way in ensuring that we can look forward to a judiciary that would be worthy of  the people’s trust,” she told reporters on her way out of the Kalayaan Hall.

After Sereno had her picture taken with the Cabinet officials, De Lima bussed and hugged the new chief justice.

“I congratulated her and then I said that [the] Supreme Court will now be in good hands,” De Lima recalled telling Sereno. “I have no rancor, whatsoever. I just said my piece when the JBC decided to disqualify me… After saying my piece, there was no rancor.”

When told that she could have been in Sereno’s shoes, De Lima let out a laugh and said: “That’s how it is. I guess I did my best in convincing my colleagues in the JBC. It’s just that there were obstacles. That disqualification was one obstacle I did not anticipate.”

Justice Villarama welcomed Sereno’s appointment. “I think she would be a good chief justice, given her talent and integrity. “I wish her luck,” he said in an interview.

He said the other justices failed to make it to the oath-taking because they were in out-of-town “lecture engagements.”  He was confident all the justices would throw their support behind her.

“The court would welcome the new chief justice. We’ll try to cooperate,” he said. “We are all mature; we know what we’re doing. I guess if there is some dissatisfaction, I guess we can solve that; we can support the chief justice.”

If there’s any reform that Sereno should concentrate on, it should be “speeding up the resolution of cases” because of the growing backlog, Villarama said. “Reform should be geared toward that,” he added.

“Let’s give her time and prove her worth.”

Maria Lourdes Sereno is the first woman Chief Justice

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 As the nation mourned, President Benigno Aquino III made a historic appointment.

Mr. Aquino on Friday appointed the Philippines’ first female Chief Justice, Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Sereno becomes the country’s 24th Chief Justice. At 52, she is the second youngest to be appointed Chief Justice (the first was Chief Justice Manuel Moran, who was 51 when he was appointed in 1945).

With 18 years to go before she retires, her service will span the terms of three more presidents after President Aquino.

Supreme Court justices serve until they turn 70.

Sereno spoke to reporters on Friday afternoon after leaving her office in the company of her staff. She said she was “overwhelmed” when she learned that she was the President’s choice for the new Chief Justice.

“I would like to thank the President for the trust he has reposed in me, but most of all I give all the glory to God from whom all this goodness has happened,” Sereno said.

Asked about her independence, she replied, “Everyone can be assured that will be something that they will see.”

She added: “I would like to assure our countrymen I will keep my oath of office faithfully to the end of my term. We will deliver to the people our priorities and schedules in due time.”

Sereno said she would emulate the good governance started by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, whose death in a plane crash on Aug. 18 the nation is mourning.

Like Robredo’s governance

The nation, she said, “can be assured that the good governance initiatives started from the life of a very good man will find resonance here in our court.”

Sereno said: “We will deliver to the people our priorities and schedules in due time. You will know about it soon.”

Sereno was President Aquino’s first appointee to the Supreme Court. He appointed her to serve on the court as associate justice on Aug. 16, 2010.

Sereno replaces former Chief Justice Renato Corona, whom the House of Representatives impeached last December for violation of the Constitution and the Senate fired after finding him guilty on May 29 at the end of a four-month trial.

Despite mourning

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda announced Sereno’s appointment on Friday, saying President Aquino was confident Sereno would lead judicial reforms.

Lacierda issued a terse statement announcing Sereno’s appointment while President Aquino and his Cabinet were attending a necrological service in Malacañang for Robredo.

Even amid national mourning for the passing of Robredo, Lacierda said Mr. Aquino was “cognizant of his constitutional duty to appoint the next Chief Justice of the Philippines.”

The Constitution requires the President to fill a vacancy in the Supreme Court within 90 days of its occurrence.

Mr. Aquino beat his Aug. 27 deadline by three days.

Sereno beat seven other nominees for Chief Justice recommended by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC): Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, Supreme Court Associate Justices Roberto Abad, Arturo Brion and Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, former Rep. Ronaldo Zamora and former Ateneo College of Law dean Cesar Villanueva.

Judicial reforms

“The President is confident that Chief Justice Sereno will lead the judiciary in undertaking much-needed reforms,” Lacierda said. “We believe the judicial branch of government has a historic opportunity to restore our people’s confidence in the judicial system.”

Sereno’s elevation to Chief Justice leaves another vacancy in the Supreme Court, which the President must fill within the next 90 days.

At first, Lacierda and his deputy, Abigail Valte, refused to brief reporters on Sereno’s appointment, saying they were in mourning.

Lacierda, however, grudgingly made himself available after being criticized for favoring television stations.

No Luisita connection

He defended the President’s choice, quickly parrying suggestions of connection with the Hacienda Luisita case in the Supreme Court, where Sereno voted in favor of the compensation package Mr. Aquino’s relatives, who controlled the sugar estate, was asking.

Lacierda stressed that the case was closed and that the Supreme Court had already said it would not entertain any further motions to save the hacienda from coverage of the agrarian reform law.

He said that in spite of the mourning for Robredo’s death, Mr. Aquino managed to sit down with the nominees for Chief Justice.

“He interviewed the nominees for the position of Chief Justice,” Lacierda said. He added that the President interviewed the nominees “in a span of two days,” but that he didn’t know exactly when.

Lacierda sought to justify Sereno’s potentially long tenure on the Supreme Court.

“Obviously, this is the first time that someone as young as Justice Sereno, who’s only 52, has been appointed [as Chief Justice],” he said. “So the President believes that Justice Sereno would be the most able to institute reforms in the judiciary. That is the consideration of the President in appointing the next Chief Justice.”

Welcome to lawyers

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), the association of all lawyers in the country, welcomed Sereno’s appointment, but the most outspoken legal expert in the Senate, Miriam Defensor Santiago, said she must “come down from her ivory tower” of outstanding academic background to face the real problems of a Third World judicial system.

Sereno is a former professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law.

“We would like to congratulate the President for choosing Justice Sereno as the new Chief Justice,” said Roan Libarios, president of the IBP. “In our mock elections [in the IBP], she was our Number 2 choice because we believe she has the capability to undertake the required reforms in the judiciary. She has the idealism and required capacity to implement reforms.”

Santiago, too, said she believed Mr. Aquino made the right choice, as the country’s first female Chief Justice is not identified with big business and does not owe her appointment to any lobby group.

“I understand that she has not been appointed to any judicial post,” Santiago said. “She will therefore have to take into consideration the viewpoint of trial judges as distinguished from her own outstanding academic background.”

Biggest challenge

That will be Sereno’s biggest challenge, Santiago said. “She is fully acquainted with the law as it ought to be. She has to raise the level of her awareness of the law as it is. In other words, she will have to come down from her ivory tower and prepare herself to confront the problems of a Third World country.”

Santiago said she did not see any problem with Sereno’s age. “She is certain to ensure continuity in Supreme Court policy because she is very young,” she said.

Santiago defended Sereno from critics who saw her appointment as President Aquino’s ensuring a Supreme Court friendly to his administration.

“That is too facile a conclusion,” Santiago said. “The Chief Justice can very well stand on her own merits. That she’s also acquainted with the thinking of the President on certain legal issues is a big plus.’

New face but insider

“It’s a well-deserved appointment,” said Sen. Franklin Drilon, chair of the Senate committee on finance and a former secretary of justice.

“This is an opportunity for her to institute real reforms in the judiciary,” he said.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, a former chair of the Senate committee on justice, said, “Nothing less than sweeping reforms will do to ensure that the crisis facing the judiciary will be overcome. We will need the energy, creativity and stamina of a new generation of jurists to do that.”

“The President made it his personal mission to reform the judiciary … I hope she’ll build on the gains of the impeachment [of Corona],” Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said.

“Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is a good choice,” House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said. “A new face yet an insider with a reputation for competence and independence. She will prove to be an effective leader of the judiciary

Maria Lourdes Sereno is the next Chief Justice; excellent choice

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Hardly a sour note was heard.

Various legal, business and political sectors, public and private groups on Saturday hailed the appointment of Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as the first female Chief Justice of the Philippines.

“It’s a tough job. But like they say, when you want the best man for the job, pick a woman,” said Sen. Pia Cayetano.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she doubted that Sereno would allow herself to be controlled by the President.

“If the charge is that she is just going to be a presidential puppet or marionette I’m sure that Ms Sereno will soon prove her critics to be wrong,” Santiago said.

Sereno is making history as the Philippines’ first female Chief Justice, she said. “But on the other hand, that weight of responsibility on her shoulders will prove to be a daunting challenge,” she said.

Santiago added that Sereno was a personal friend of hers who was one of her advisers during the congressional deliberation on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement in the early 2000s.

“It is my hope that the appointment of the first female Chief Justice should result in a more gender-sensitive judiciary,” said Cayetano, one of only three women in the Senate.

Where were the seniors?

Sereno took her oath before President Aquino in Malacañang on Saturday morning. The senior justices of the Supreme Court were not present.

Apart from Sereno’s family, academicians and Cabinet officials, only Supreme Court Associate Justices Martin Villarama Jr., Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Mariano del Castillo and Bienvenido Reyes turned up at her oath-taking in the Palace.

Besides appointing Sereno as the Philippine’s first female Chief Justice, President Aquino also broke tradition by picking the head of the judiciary not from among the five most senior justices of the Supreme Court. In seniority, Sereno ranks 13th.

The five top senior justices are Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Arturo Brion and Diosdado Peralta (who declined his nomination for Chief Justice).

OK with business

The Makati Business Club issued a statement on Saturday, saying that Sereno “is a morally upright person with impeccable integrity, independence of mind, and competence.”

“The impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona divided the country and greatly tested the faith of the people in our justice system,” the club said. “We sincerely hope that our new Chief Justice rebuilds the people’s trust in the institution by ensuring greater transparency and accountability in the courts.”

Mr. Aquino administered the oath to Sereno, who entered Rizal Hall beaming, in simple, brief rites at around 10 a.m. Her husband, Mario Jose Sereno, daughter Sophia and son Jose Lorenzo stood behind her.

Among those who were also there to witness the oath-taking were former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Budget Secretary Florencio Abad and Sereno’s former colleagues at the University of the Philippines’ College of Law.

No interviews

Sereno, who at 52 will serve for 18 years, declined reporters’ requests for interviews.

She is the second youngest magistrate to become Chief Justice of the Philippines, after Chief Justice Manuel Moran, who was 51 when he was appointed in 1945.

She replaces Renato Corona, whom the House of Representatives impeached in December last year for violation of the Constitution, and the Senate fired on May 29 after finding him guilty at the conclusion of a four-month trial.

After taking her oath, Sereno proceeded to Kalayaan Hall to pay her last respects to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, who died in a plane crash in Masbate on Aug. 18.

Hours after Mr. Aquino welcomed Robredo’s remains into Malacañang on Friday for a two-day state vigil, the Palace announced Sereno’s appointment, three days ahead of the expiry of the 90-day deadline set by the Constitution.

No rancor

De Lima, Malacañang’s candidate for Chief Justice until the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), which vets nominees for positions in the judiciary, disqualified her because of a pending administrative case, praised Sereno’s appointment.

“She’s an excellent choice,” De Lima told reporters. “She’ll be a very good [Chief Justice]. Her youth, her dynamism and her brilliance would go a long way in ensuring that we can look forward to a judiciary that would be worthy of the people’s trust.”

After the picture-taking with the Cabinet officials, De Lima bussed and hugged the new Chief Justice.

“I congratulated her and then I said that [the] Supreme Court will now be in good hands,” De Lima said. “I have no rancor, whatsoever. I just said my piece when the JBC decided to disqualify me … After saying my piece, there was no rancor.”

When told that she could have been in Sereno’s shoes, De Lima let out a laugh and said: “That’s how it is. I guess I did my best in convincing my colleagues on the JBC. It’s just that there were obstacles. That disqualification was one obstacle I did not anticipate.”

Out of town

Villarama welcomed Sereno’s appointment. “I think she would be a good Chief Justice, given her talent and integrity. I wish her luck,” he said in an interview.

Villarama said the other Supreme Court justices failed to make it to the oath-taking because they were in out-of-town “lecture engagements.”  He said he was confident all the justices would support Sereno.

“The court would welcome the new Chief Justice. We’ll try to cooperate,” Villarama said. “We are all mature; we know what we’re doing. I guess if there is some dissatisfaction, I guess we can solve that. We can support the Chief Justice.”

Sereno’s appointment is widely seen as part of President Aquino’s campaign for judicial reforms.

Villarama said that if there’s any reform that Sereno should concentrate on, it should be “speeding up the resolution of cases.” He said the backlog of cases was growing. “Reform should be geared toward that,” he said. “Let’s give her time and prove her worth.”

Strength of character

Santiago said she could vouch for the new Chief Justice’s strength of character.

“She is not identified with big business or with any other social grouping. So we should emphasize the autonomy of her judicicial personality,” Santiago said.

“She is free of ties that may have bound past Chief Justices,” Santiago added.

Private groups cheer

Private groups cheered Sereno’s appointment, and reiterated their calls for reforms in the judiciary.

“From the feedback from business leaders and professionals, people favor the appointment and now want to see reforms,” said Guillermo Luz, cochair of the National Competitiveness Council.

Luz said the council’s working group for the judiciary had drawn up proposed reforms, but discussion of the proposals was sidelined by the impeachment trial of Corona.

“With the appointment [of Sereno], we can now try to arrange discussions on the immediate challenges,” Luz said.

The immediate challenges, he said, are speed of courts, perception of fairness, and consistency.

“Speed is not just for the [Supreme Court], but for the lower courts as well,” he said.

As for consistency, he said he hoped the Supreme Court would now stop flip-flopping on decisions, as it did in the ruling involving the question of cityhood for certain municipalities.

“Business groups and the league of professionals are hopeful her tenure would be enough time to institute reforms,” Luz said. “We know reforms take a long time and because of that we would like to see initial efforts soon.”

Court of Appeals Justice Gabriel Ingles said he believed Sereno had the integrity and independence even if she was identified with the Aquino administration.

Ingles said Sereno was never accused of irregularity and as she would serve for 18 years, she would have enough time to implement reforms on the Supreme Court.

Judge Meinrado Paredes of the Regional Trial Court of Cebu City said Sereno was a good choice for Chief Justice.

Paredes described Sereno as an “insider” and said her appointment should be respected even if other senior justices, including Carpio, had been bypassed.

Being consistent

Lawyer Earl Bonachita, president of the Cebu City chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, praised the appointment of Sereno as the Philippines’ first female Chief Justice.

He said that by choosing Sereno, President Aquino was being consistent with his pronouncement that the next Chief Justice would be someone with integrity, competence, and adherence to the rule of law.

“Maybe the President found those qualities in Sereno,” Bonachita said. “Let’s give her a chance.”

Sereno bested Carpio, De Castro, Brion and Associate Justice Roberto Abad, along with former Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, former Rep. Ronaldo Zamora and former Ateneo College of Law dean Cesar Villanueva in the selection of a new Chief Justice.

Absent justice

Carpio, De Castro, Brion, Abad, Velasco and Peralta were absent from Sereno’s oath-taking, and so were Associate Justices Lucas Bersamin, Jose Perez and Jose Mendoza.

Communication Secretary Ricky Carandang refused to read meaning in their absence.

“I don’t think it’s fair to speculate in that way,” Carandang said when reporters asked him if he thought the absence of the senior justices meant they weren’t taking Sereno’s appointment well.

“As far as I know, Sereno’s appointment was very widely viewed as a positive development.”

He added that Sereno was a “person of competence and integrity who we all hope will reform the judiciary and make it more responsive to the needs of ordinary people.”

Bad for land reform

For the left-leaning Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), however, Sereno’s appointment could lead to a delay in the distribution of Hacienda Luisita, the sugar estate in Tarlac province owned by relatives of President Aquino.

“With Sereno at the helm on the Supreme Court for 18 years, Hacienda Luisita’s distribution could drag on for another two decades at the very least,” Randall Echanis, KMP deputy secretary general, said in a statement.

Echanis pointed out that in the Supreme Court ruling on the case in April, Sereno voted in favor of the compensation package demanded by the President’s relatives. With her as the new Chief Justice, Echanis said, the presidential relatives have the opportunity “to further derail and even evade land distribution.