|
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Puno assumes SC chief justice post
CEBU CITY -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday night named Reynato Puno as the new Supreme Court (SC) chief justice, replacing Artemio Panganiban, who retires Thursday.
Former SC chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. said in GMA 7 Saksi report that Puno "has a lot in store, having a dedication and a sense of independence and integrity."
Join Sun.Star's Online Talks with Cebu leaders
With his appointment, Puno becomes the High Tribunal's 22nd top official.
Puno, a graduate of the University of the Philippines, was named to the SC by then president Fidel Ramos in 1993.
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago earlier warned she will abandon President Arroyo if the chief executive ignores her request to defer the appointment of a new SC chief justice because of the failure of the nomination process.
"I will no longer be useful to the President," she said Wednesday.
Santiago, a staunch supporter of Arroyo, said she will have no choice but to leave the President if Arroyo names a new chief justice based on the list of nominees of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).
Santiago, who was shut out of the list of nominees, said she is not after the appointment of Arroyo.
She explained that what is alarming is the fact that there was an injustice in the process of selection of nominees "and the system must be corrected."
Panganiban's stint as chief justice, one of the shortest in the High Tribunal's history, is over.
His term ended midnight Wednesday and, according to a statement issued by the Supreme Court (SC), he left behind "a valuable legacy of priceless contributions not only to the Philippine but to the global judiciary."
These, the High Tribunal said, include several landmark decisions in such cases as the Bayan Muna vs. Ermita, the Senate vs. Ermita, and Davide vs. Arroyo.
In the first case, the SC declared as unconstitutional the Arroyo administration's calibrated pre-emptive response to ban protest actions.
In the second case, the High Court declared as unconstitutional certain provisions of Executive Order 464, which barred Cabinet officials from attending congressional inquires with Malacañang's consent.
The third was a decision that limited the President's powers to place the country under a state of national emergency.
"Some of those who drafted Proclamation 1017 may be testing the outer limits of presidential prerogatives and the perseverance of this court in safeguarding the people's constitutionally enshrined liberty," Panganiban had said. "They are playing with fire, and unless prudently restrained, they may one day wittingly or unwittingly burn down the country."
Last October, the Panganiban-led High Court dismissed the petition for a people's initiative to amend the 1987 Constitution in the Lambino vs. Comelec case.
Some judges and court staffers interviewed at the Cebu Palace of Justice Wednesday gave the outgoing chief justice a passing mark.
"He knew how to take care of his people," said lawyer Jeoffrey Joaquino, the judicial region's Clerk of Court.
And while there were criticisms hurled at him at the start of his stint-judicial regions received open letters signed Concerned Employees of the Supreme Court-these died down.
Among the criticisms was his hosting of "grandiose" international conferences beginning with the International Conference and Showcase of Judicial Reforms, done at the closing of ex-chief justice Hilario Davide Jr.'s stint and coinciding with the launch of Panganiban's 11th book.
The affair cost P50 million and was charged to the SC's coffers. This was quickly followed by a "Global Forum on Liberty and Prosperity," then a "National Forum" and an "Academic Forum" on the same subject.
The Global Forum was held at the posh Shangri-la Hotel in Makati City and had some 300 foreign and local delegates, including French Supreme Court Chief Justice Guy Canivet, Russian Federation Chief Justice Vyacheslav Lebedev, and Canadian Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin.
Panganiban was also rapped for his "excessive" foreign travels-New York, Washington, the Czech Republic, Vietnam, Spain, the Netherlands and Singapore.
This cost the High Tribunal some $18,000 in representation and daily allowances.
And there were other alleged excesses-having his books printed at the Supreme Court Printing Office and bringing thousands of copies to trips abroad for giveaways and maintaining a "phalanx of security men" even on golf trips.
Since his appointment as associate justice in 1995, Panganiban has written around 1,200 full-length decisions, a hundred separate opinions, several thousand minute resolutions, as well as 11 books that marked his every year in the court.
He is the first graduate of the Far Eastern University (FEU) College of Law to have been appointed as chief justice.
He graduated cum laude from FEU in 1960 and placed sixth in the bar exams held that same year. (KNR of Sun.Star Cebu/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (December 7, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
