Sereno has no heart ailment, says aide
Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was not hospitalized and has no heart problem contrary to a newspaper report, her Chief of Staff said in a statement.
“Contrary to a false report, the Chief Justice was not hospitalized and does not have a heart problem. She has in fact returned a day early from the annual wellness leave each Justice is entitled to, the first time she availed herself of the leave in four years she has been with the Court,” Sereno’s chief of staff Ma. Lourdes Oliveros said in a statement Tuesday.
The report said Sereno was hospitalized during her 15-day wellness leave due to heart problem. The report further stated that the chief justice suffered palpitations due to stress and visited her cardiologist at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig.
The stress, according to the report, started with her run-in with Associate Justice Arturo Brion, who, in his separate opinion accused her of manipulating the result of the Judicial and Bar Council voting to kick out newly appointed Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza from the shortlist.
“Such fabricated gossip has no place in professional journalism. The wellness leave is the time the justices undergo their executive check-ups. That does not count as hospitalization unless you have a malicious mind,” Oliveros said.
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