MANILA, Philippines?Now?s your chance to send the highest court of the land a ?smiley? :-) or a ?frown? :-(.

To provide real-time updates and draw instant feedback from the public, the Supreme Court has joined two popular social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook.

A brainchild of recently appointed Chief Justice Renato Corona, the move was meant to bring ?closer to the people? an institution widely seen as the least accessible of all the branches of government.

The two accounts?Twitter (@KorteSuprema) and Facebook account Supreme Court of the Philippines?were opened simultaneously on Monday.

Court Administrator and spokesperson Midas Marquez said that through these new channels, the tribunal can give regular updates on certain court decisions, programs and other official activities of the justices.

Feedback

At the same time, the high court has also opened itself to public comments, feedback and even complaints that can be sent through these accounts.

The Supreme Court already has an existing website?sc.judiciary.gov.ph?where it mainly uploads decisions, press releases and speeches delivered by the Chief Justice.

Marquez said the addition of the Twitter and Facebook accounts was part of the high court?s ?public service.?

?It?s to bring the court closer to the people and give them real-time news updates on Supreme Court decisions, programs and projects,? he said.

And when it comes to criticism and complaints, ?of course, everyone?s welcome,? he said. ?They?re free to do what they want to do. We take everything constructively.?

Copies for Corona

But Marquez said the court didn?t have to reply to everything it received online.

Marquez said Corona?who doesn?t have a personal Twitter account?would be given a copy of the tweets and Facebook comments, and may even respond to them ?maybe during his free time.?

?If he cannot check them personally, we?ll be furnishing him with hard copies,? Marquez said. ?This is his idea.?

Through its initial tweets on Tuesday, the Supreme Court announced that Corona would lead the judiciary in the special ?Red Mass? to be celebrated by Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales at Manila Cathedral on July 7.

It also tweeted the title of its news release on Tuesday concerning the Supreme Court ruling upholding the election of Abraham Mitra as Palawan governor.

Marquez denied that the court turned to Twitter and Facebook to cushion the controversies surrounding the Corona-led court. ?What controversies? I don?t think the controversies were taken into account,? he said.

Media blitz

Shortly after his appointment, Corona went on an unprecedented media blitz by granting sit-down interviews on TV and radio to defend his selection?widely denounced as a midnight appointment?by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her final weeks in office.

Arroyo picked Corona on May 17 to succeed the retiring Reynato Puno, even as critics argued that the constitutional ban on presidential appointments had already taken effect March 10 or two months before the May elections.

His appointment came after the Supreme Court overturned a 1998 doctrine stating that an outgoing President can no longer fill in vacancies in the judiciary two months before the elections until the end of his term.

Premature

The justices voted 9-1, with five other justices, including Corona, abstaining or saying the case was premature.

To signify his disagreement with the Supreme Court decision, President Benigno Aquino III chose to be sworn into office on June 30, not by Corona, but by Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales.

Corona will preside over the Supreme Court for the next eight years, since he will retire on Oct. 15, 2018, when he turns 70. With a report from Agence France-Presse