Sereno almost omitted from Supreme Court list

MANILA, Philippines - Newly appointed Supreme Court Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Aranal-Sereno almost got left out of the list of President Aquino’s choices to fill the vacancy in the SC, sources said yesterday.

The sources disclosed only three names from the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) were given to the President initially – Court of Appeals Justices Japar Dimaampao, Noel Tijam and Hakim Abdulwahid.

After vetting, however, Mr. Aquino asked for the other names in the JBC list. Sereno was sixth and last in the list. Former University of the Philippines-College of Law dean and Bantay Katarungan chairman Raul Pangalangan was number four and Commission on Elections

commissioner Rene Sarmiento was fifth.

A background check of all the candidates showed Sereno had one of most solid credentials, the sources said.

Malacañang had stressed Mr. Aquino did not know Sereno personally even if they were schoolmates at the Ateneo de Manila University. The sources said the President was not one to listen to “whispers” and “lobbying” for certain candidates in various government positions.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said they received word that the “bulk of the legal community was very pleased” with the appointment of Sereno.

Lacierda said the competence of Sereno could also not be questioned since she was instrumental in the Philippine government’s victory against German firm, Fraport AG and the Philippine International Air Terminals Corp. before international arbitration tribunals involving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 case.

Redeeming news

Veteran lawmaker and experienced human rights lawyer Sen. Joker Arroyo also welcomed yesterday Sereno’s appointment.

Arroyo said it is the only redeeming news coming from Malacañang, after the Supreme Court temporarily stopped the imposition of the expanded value added tax (VAT) on toll.

The maverick senator likened Sereno’s appointment to the SC to US President Barack Obama’s nomination of US Solicitor General Elena Kagan  - the fourth woman ever to sit on the court and the first justice in nearly 40 years without judicial experience in the US.

“The redeeming news for the week is the appointment by President Noynoy of Professor Sereno as associate justice of the Supreme Court despite her lack of trial experience and without having been a judge at all,” Arroyo said.

Arroyo said Sereno’s appointment “has a parallel in the appointment of Elena Kagan to the US Supreme Court by President Obama a few weeks ago.”

“Kagan, likewise, had no trial experience as a litigator or a judge. She was formerly dean of the Harvard Law School before she was appointed solicitor general in the Obama administration,” Arroyo said.

Arroyo added the distinction of Professors Sereno and Kagan is that they are both learned in the law. 

Over the weekend, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago also lauded Mr. Aquino for appointing Sereno as the 15th justice of the Supreme Court, saying the country could very well have a strong candidate for its first-ever female chief justice.

Santiago and Sereno share the same background as cum laude graduates of the University of the Philippines’ College of Law and got degrees in law at the University of Michigan in the United States. The feisty senator, who has often described herself as an expert in international and constitutional law, had nothing but praises for Sereno. –With Christina Mendez