SC unfazed by Arlene’s flight

MANILA, Philippines - The investigation on alleged influence peddling in the judiciary will proceed despite the reported flight of “Ma’am Arlene,” the subject of the probe, the Supreme Court (SC) said yesterday.

SC spokesman Theodore Te said the special committee created by the magistrates of the high court last week has yet to confirm whether the person who reportedly left the country last Wednesday is indeed “Ma’am Arlene.”

“The work of the committee created by the court is to verify if there truly is a ‘Ma’am Arlene’ or that the Arlene that left the country is the same ‘Ma’am Arlene’, whether she participated in influence peddling and the personnel involved in the judiciary, if any. Hence, it’s mandate and work continues,” Te said in a text message.

Still, the SC official said the committee chaired by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen would verify the reports on the flight of Arlene.

“The reports regarding the departure of a certain Arlene Angeles Lerma from the Philippines are being validated and formal confirmation from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) will be done as soon as possible,” he said.

Reports from the BI said Lerma left from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 on a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight to an undisclosed Asian destination last Oct. 16.

Initial probe by the SC’s court administrator Jose Midas Marquez, however, showed three “Arlenes” in the judiciary who are known for supposed “fixing cases” in the Court of Appeals and regional trial courts.

The charges were also traced to a supposed smear campaign during the recent election of officers of the Philippine Judges Association (PJA), which is now also covered by the SC probe.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno earlier tapped the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the probe.

Te added that the committee remains in its “organizational stage” and that developments would be announced this week.

Leonen and NBI officer-in-charge Medardo de Lemos met last Friday to officially kick off the probe.

“We talked about how we will go about the coordination between the NBI and the Supreme Court,” De Lemos said.

He said he would create a team composed of agents from the different divisions - Special Task Force, Intelligence, Anti-Fraud and Anti-Graft for the probe.

“The OIC will directly supervise the team with the help of the deputy directors,” he said.

The charge involving Ma’am Arlene - judiciary’s version of alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Napoles - was first reported by The STAR.