Sandiganbayan mourns passing of Justice Cornejo

Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Maria Cristina Cornejo (Photo from the webpage of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law)

Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Maria Cristina Cornejo passed away on Sunday afternoon, a year after serious illness led to her prolonged absence and later her early retirement. She was 66.

“The Court mourns her passing,” Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang said as she confirmed the development in a text message to the Inquirer on Monday.

“She will be remembered as among those magistrates who served this country with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency, and who led a truly modest life. She will be surely missed,” Tang said.

Necrological services are being prepared by the antigraft court for Cornejo, who died at the Cardinal Santos Medical Center. The court flew the Philippine flag at half-mast on Monday.

News of Cornejo’s death quickly spread on social media among lawyers and law students of the University of Santo Tomas, where Cornejo taught remedial and criminal law subjects.

Acting Presidential Commission on Good Government chairman Reynold Munsayac even shared an anecdote in a public post on Facebook on Sunday night.

Munsayac related the story of a working student “many years ago” who was suddenly arrested by policemen over charges of unjust vexation by a fast-food customer who got annoyed by the smell of garbage being taken out by the crew.

The flag at the Sandiganbayan flies at half-last as it mourns the death of Associate Justice Maria Cristina Cornejo. Photo by Vince F. Nonato.

Since it was a Friday night, the student would normally have to spend three nights in jail before being able to post bail. The complainant turned out to be the son of a high-ranking government official—but Munsayac said he enlisted the help of his mentor Cornejo and a judge “surprisingly” went to office on a Saturday to process bail.

“She told me that it would be the height of injustice to let a student spend three nights in jail just because a customer was annoyed by the smell of fastfood garbage,” Munsayac said.

Prior to her stint at the Sandiganbayan, Cornejo served as executive judge of the Makati City Regional Trial Court. She was also a bar reviewer in remedial law and criminal law, as well as a lecturer for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education.

Cornejo assumed the position of associate justice on May 1, 2010.

She was one of the justices who comprised the division that acquitted businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles of malversation in Oct. 28, 2010, over a dubious P3.8-million contract for the Philippine Marines’ purchase of Kevlar helmets in 1998. (Division chairman Associate Justice Gregory Ong was dismissed on Sept. 23, 2014 for being associated with Napoles.)

On Oct. 23, 2015, Cornejo was also one of the justices who concurred in the order for the full turnover of disputed 72.2-percent share in the United Coconut Planters Bank in favor of the government.

She was one of the justices who comprised the dissenting minority in the Sandiganbayan’s 3-2 decision on May 28, 2014 to dismiss the graft charges against businessman Roberto Ongpin over an alleged P660-million behest loan approved by the Development Bank of the Philippines in favor of an Ongpin firm.

She went on prolonged sick leave from June 13, 2016. The Supreme Court on March 14 this year allowed her to retire early with full benefits, even as she was four years short of the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Cornejo had been diagnosed with acute cerebrovascular disease, controlled hypertension, systemic lupus erythematous, pancytopenia, colon cancer stage 3, and acute kidney injury, according to a clinical abstract cited by the Supreme Court. CBB