ALL is well between Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro despite their recent clash on the fate of controversial party-list groups.
"We are okay. We see each other every session. Nothing personal, it's just work," de Castro told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the Supreme Court e-Court project at the Quezon City Hall of Justice on Friday.
Sereno earlier stopped the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from proclaiming the five remaining winners of the party-list race last May 13 due to the petitions of groups questioning their disqualification before the High Court.
De Castro protested Sereno's action, saying in a letter on May 29 that her recommendation was to only restrain the implementation of the Comelec resolution against party-list group Senior Citizens, whose accreditation was denied because of a term-sharing agreement for its two sets of nominees.
The justices took two days to break the impasse, eventually deciding on June 5 to allow Comelec to virtually proceed with proclamation of other groups and reserve seats for Senior Citizens, whose petition asking for inclusion in the race has yet to be resolved.
De Castro, one of Sereno's rivals for Chief Justice last year, also criticized the top magistrate over the re-opening of the Regional Court Administration Office (RCAO) in Cebu without the approval of 14 other justices. The Court revoked Sereno's administrative order last December.
During the program, de Castro thanked Sereno for including her in the eCourt project, which features a computer-based system designed to enable trial court judges, court personnel and officers to organize, plan and control the flow of case from filing to resolution and enforcement.
De Castro said Sereno tapped her to join the project.
Both justices were seatmates and talked a couple of times during the two-hour event. They were joined by the SC's youngest magistrate, Marvic Leonen. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)