INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Seven most senior justices of the Supreme Court were absent during the first flag raising ceremony of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Monday.
Absent were Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo De Castro, Presbitero Velasco, Arturo Brion, Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin. Associate Justice Martin Villarama, who is also more senior to Sereno, was also a no-show.
Like Sereno, the four justices – Carpio, who served as acting Chief Justice after Renato Corona was impeached last May, De Castro, Velasco and Brion – were also nominated for the top SC post. But it was Sereno, who was appointed by President Benigno Aquino III.
Only Associate Justices Jose Catrall Mendoza, Jose Perez, Roberto Abad, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Bienvenido Reyes attended the flag-raising ceremony.