Guerra rejoinder to ‘Carpio declines Sereno post offer’ report

This is to correct several gross inaccuracies in the front page story “Carpio declines Sereno post offer” by Mr. Edu Punay in the Philippine STAR’s 28 October 2012 issue that heavily relies on unnamed source/s.

First, it tries to discredit Justice Antonio T. Carpio’s own statement that he and the other Associate Justices support Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno. The business of the Court in fact is proceeding smoothly, with the continuous promulgation of decisions and the collective commitment to judicial reform. The article also states that Chief Justice Sereno had testified against former Chief Justice Renato C. Corona in his impeachment trial when such was not the case as records clearly show.  The article likewise repeats the already discredited report (see Edu Punay’s own correction in his 1 October 2012 article, “No Sereno order on attendance at flag-raising rites”) that Chief Justice Sereno issued an internal memo requiring the Supreme Court Justices to attend the SC flag ceremony. To reiterate, the Chief Justice has not issued any such memo; otherwise a copy would have been produced by now. Even the Chief Justice’s chief of staff was not spared when, quoting the unnamed source/s once more, the article falsely states that the chief of staff signed a decision on behalf of the Chief Justice. Indeed the statement is so improbable as to border on the ridiculous. Finally, no validation of the truth of the facts was made by the reporter, contrary to the basic tenets of ethical journalism.

We are sending you this letter so that the public will not be misled, and in the interest of fairness and accuracy. Thank you. —ATTY. MARIA VICTORIA GLEORESTY SP. GUERRA, Director IV and Acting Chief, Supreme Court PIO