Palma: Give CJ Sereno a chance

THE country’s new chief justice deserves the country’s  “trust and confidence,” Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said.

“At the moment kay bag-o man na siya. I have made a statement before, let’s give her the privilege of our trust being new,” Palma, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president, told reporters after being asked on the appointment of Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno.

The prelate urged Filipinos to wait and give Sereno the chance to prove her worth as the new head of the Supreme Court.

“Let time tell us the good actions she will take. And of course eventually the performance that we expected her to make,” Palma added.

When sought to react on the tax evasion case against Sereno’s predecessor Renato Corona, the church leader “trusts that everything will be done in the proper procedure and of course with the intention to fully help build community by prosecuting those who are guilty.”

But Archbishop Palma cautioned that intentions of people involved is not easy to determine.

“As regards to intention, it is difficult to ascertain the intentions of people,” he added.

President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III announced last August 24  his appointment of Sereno. He administered the oath to the new Chief Justice the next day.

Sereno is the first female to lead the country’s judiciary. She is filling in the office left by Renato Corona who was found guilty last May 29 by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court last.

Sereno, 52 is the 24 chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court./Correspondent Jessa J. Agua