For the second time in five months, Senior Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro is questioning Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.
This time, it’s Sereno’s ruling stopping the Commission on Elections from proclaiming the five remaining winners of the May 13 polling in the party-list system.
The Supreme Court has issued a status quo ante order against the “money ban” resolution of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that would have prevented the withdrawal and the carrying of large amounts of cash before and during the elections on Monday.
Saying the defendant was convicted on mere circumstantial evidence that could not establish his guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the Supreme Court acquitted a farmhand sentenced to prison for the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Lanao del Sur 15 years ago.
Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno on Wednesday insisted the Supreme Court was united despite reports that senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio had questioned her appointment of a staff member who was still reporting to the University of the Philippines law faculty.
With Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno away on a four-day official trip to the United States, the Supreme Court magistrates who had boycotted the regular Monday flag-raising ceremony since she took office attended the rite.
Supreme Court justices on Tuesday confronted Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno on her order to reopen a regional constitutional administrative office (RCAO) without their consent but agreed to create a committee that would study the move intended to decentralize supervision over lower courts.
Senator Francis Pangilinan on Monday said magistrates associated with impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona were blocking the reforms being implemented by Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno in the judiciary.
Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno has been asked by an associate justice to recall or amend her controversial administrative order that created a Judiciary Decentralized Office and allowed the reopening of a Regional Court Administration Office (RCAO) in Cebu City.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno on Wednesday skipped the tribunal’s full court session reportedly to avoid a showdown with fellow justices over her decision to revive a project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that the SC scrapped a few years ago.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno’s issuance of a temporary restraining order stopping the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from unseating Imus Mayor Emmanuel Maliksi, a partymate of President Benigno Aquino III in the Liberal Party.
This time, it was Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno who skipped the regular Monday flag-raising ceremony at the Supreme Court.
There are three new justices in the Court of Appeals appointed by President Aquino. Based on a transmittal letter from Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno dated Sept. 18, the new appellate court justices are Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judges Marie Christine Jacob and Henri Jean-Paul Inting, and Iligan City RTC Judge Oscar Badelles.
Three weeks into her new job, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno has yet to designate an official spokesperson for the Supreme Court.
