Krisel Mallari, the high school salutatorian whose graduation speech in March was interrupted by school officials, has finally gotten her certificate of good moral character.
The wording of the document, however, made it very clear that her former school, the Santo Niño Parochial School (SNPS) in Quezon City, disagreed with the Court of Appeals order and that the issuance of the certificate was being done under protest and with reservation.
The two-page document was issued at 6 p.m. on Thursday, a day after the appellate court’s Second Division ordered the school to issue the certificate, one of the requirements Mallari needed to get into the University of Santo Tomas (UST).
Signed by Herminia G. Catud, the SNPS principal, it started off by citing the court ruling ordering the school to issue the certificate.
“In deference and not wanting to defy the Honorable Court of Appeal’s resolution, this certificate of good moral character is hereby issued to Ms. Krisel S. Mallari, a graduate… for school year 2014-2015,” the document read.
It went on to note that a lower court had denied Mallari’s petition after hearing both sides. “The honorable Court of Appeals, on the other hand, without notice and hearing, issued ex-parte, a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction in violation of the rules of court, which therefore makes the resolution void, with all due respect.”
It ended by saying that “the issuance of [the] certificate … is with reservation, under protest and with full intent to assail the legality, validity and authority of the honorable Court of Appeals’ resolution to issue a certificate contrary to its assessment, evaluation and belief.”
Reached for comment, SNPS lawyer, Maritonie Renee Resurreccion told the Inquirer that the school was leaving it to the Mallari family to determine whether or not the wording of the document would be an issue.
She admitted, however, that the certificate issued to Mallari was not in the usual format used by the school.
“We will not defy the court insofar as the order of issuing a certificate of good moral character but the court cannot dictate what we are going to state in that certificate,” she told the Inquirer.
As for the Mallaris’ threat to file a contempt case against the school for not immediately complying with the Court of Appeals’ order, Resurreccion earlier said that they welcomed it as an opportunity for their side to be heard.
“We will issue the certificate without prejudice to our filing of a motion for reconsideration,” Resurreccion said, adding that they were also considering filing a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court.
A video of Mallari being interrupted by school officials as she was delivering her speech went viral after it was uploaded on the web. Her speech, which officials said was different from the one she had submitted for their approval, insinuated that there were irregularities in the computation of her grades.