What Went Before: Corruption talk rocks judiciary

The election of national officers of the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) in October was marred by a controversy of vote-buying instigated by a lobbyist known as “Ma’am Arlene.”

According to Supreme Court Administrator Midas Marquez, his office has been monitoring the corruption reports in the judiciary as early as September and conducting a discreet investigation.

Marquez said there were apparently three “Ma’am Arlenes” suspected of involvement in case fixing in the Court of Appeals but that only one—a court clerk—was a judiciary employee.

The others are a former employee at the Manila Regional Trial Court and a Manila City Hall employee.

Marquez said one of the “Arlenes” reportedly financed a candidate for president in the recently held PJA election.

On Oct. 15, Andres Reyes Jr., the appellate court’s presiding judge, also launched a separate investigation of Arlene.

On Oct. 17, Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te said that the high court en banc had created a committee to investigate reports of judicial corruption and influence-peddling and case-fixing in the lower courts.

The Supreme Court consolidated the Marquez and Reyes probes and the investigation that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno had asked the National Bureau of Investigation to undertake.

Te said the high tribunal had designated Associate Justice Marvic Leonen to head the committee, with two other retired justices to be appointed as members by Leonen.

The Supreme Court en banc asked the NBI to transmit the results of its investigation to the Leonen committee.

Records of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) showed a certain Arlene left the Philippines on Oct. 16. A BI official said he checked the woman’s travel records only after inquiries were made about her.

“She is not necessarily the same ‘Ma’am Arlene’ being implicated in the issue,” said the official. “We’re just saying that this certain person [that we were asked about] had left the country.”

On Oct. 20, the Supreme Court said it was checking if the Arlene Angeles Lerma that left the country on Oct. 16 was involved in case-fixing and other forms of judicial corruption.

“The reports regarding the departure of a certain Arlene Angeles Lerma from the Philippines are being validated and formal confirmation from the BI will be done as soon as possible,” Te said in a text message to the Inquirer.