Sereno's record

DIE HARD III
Herman Tiu Laurel
8/27/2012



The appointment of Maria Lourdes Sereno as Chief Justice (CJ) lends new luster to reports of her legal opinion on the controversial Hacienda Luisita (HLI) case in 2011: "Only Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, the President's first appointee to the high court, believed that the compensation must be pegged at the Jan. 2, 2006 rate."  That's the highest amount of compensation, totaling P10 billion, for the 4,915-hectare estate of the Aquino-Cojuangcos of BS Aquino III, which Luisita farmers obviously would not be able to afford.

The Supreme Court (SC) majority — in stark contrast to Sereno's view — based the valuation on 1989 figures, or P200 million for the entire estate, when the HLI stock option plan was implemented (and now declared illegal). Sereno's 18-year-long stint in the Judiciary, most especially these times under Aquino and the Yellows, will necessarily be colored by the legal interpretations she has made in the past. Will she ever shake off the stigma? This is the very situation that the SC petition of Adaza-Paguia-Borja-Laurel et al. (including the Tribune readers who sent in contributions for its filing in July) sought to avoid by questioning the constitutionality of the presidential appointment of the CJ.

A careful reading of the 1987 Constitution shows no provision empowering the President to appoint SC chief justices. Based on our (supposedly) democratic system's fundamental principles of "checks-and-balances" and "separation of powers," requiring an "independent Judiciary," the CJ ought to be elected by his or her peers. Even as the high court under Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio (who was chosen so by peers) finally issued a denial of our petition based on jurisprudence (past decisions), a Motion for Reconsideration is being prepared.  From my layman's interpretation of our counsels' position, where a clear constitutional provision was pointed out, jurisprudence should not be the basis for judging on the issue.

Else, a cloud of doubt will forever hang over any SC Chief Justice appointed by the Chief Executive hereon until the petitioners' issue is resolved satisfactorily.

It is already the impression of many people that the appointment of the new CJ also has a political agenda, involving the presidential elections of 2016.  Things are turning out to be a "Corona affair" all over again as politically charged parties clash over decisions of a chief magistrate that is seen to be beholden to the appointing power and serving as his political hatchet-person.

The partisan political angle, however, is not Sereno's only problem.  From consumer protection advocates in power, water, and other public utilities, where the oligarchy's power and control prevails over public regulatory agencies, specifically with regard to Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) abuses, Sereno will be remembered for her total lack of sympathy for the people and her blatantly pro-power oligarchy sentiments. We wrote this in 2011 about the SC siding with both the ERC and Meralco on a 2009 P0.29 per kilowatt-hour rate hike petition on purely technical procedural grounds: "It makes everyone wonder whether PeNoy's first SC appointee, Justice Lourdes Sereno, really appreciates the substantive issue of Salus populi est suprema lex (The welfare of the people is the supreme law) when she, as ponente, faulted consumers, saying, 'They should be more vigilant in protecting their rights.'  And since consumer advocates have to pay for their own fares; solicit volunteer legal representation; and plod through deliberately obfuscated ERC rules and rulings, how can Sereno still claim that we consumers have been remiss?  We, therefore, have to ask this of the SC, the supposed last bastion of the people's hope for justice, which championed public welfare in 2003 by confirming the Return-on-Rate Base (RoRB), as well as vetoed the charging of corporate income tax to consumers and ordered the Commission on Audit (CoA) to sift through the books: Has it now been captured, too?"

In 2012 we wrote that "Sereno was ponente to an SC Second Division decision junking consumer protection groups' petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the 26.9-centavo Meralco rate increase and its overcharge beyond the 12-percent RoRB affirmed by the SC in 2003, on the basis of the ERC's violation of the consumers' right to due process in refusing consumers opportunity to present their opposition. Though the high court… admitted that the ERC 'prematurely' issued the assailed decision 'since the period for the petitioners to file their comment/opposition had not lapsed then,' Sereno (as ponente) still decided against the consumer groups … in contrast to Meralco, which the ERC allowed to charge consumers its two dozen lawyers at the hearing and its P2.2-billion 'regulatory liaison' fund…"

For ordinary folks whose concerns revolve mainly around government greed and corruption, let's recall Aytch de la Cruz' 2011 report calling BS Aquino "to check on the (CoA) records where it will definitely show that the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) funded the $50 million (almost P1 billion) legal fees, which were in turn received by the government lawyers, among whom were retired Justice Florentino Feliciano and then lawyer Lourdes Sereno, now an associate justice who was rewarded with the high court post by Aquino, who claimed it was she who had won in the (Philippine International Air Terminals Co. Inc. International Chamber of Commerce) case against government..."

To date, Sereno has never satisfactorily explained this "windfall" from government funds when asked about her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth.

And that is the kind of record the Yellows are so proud of?

(Watch Talk News TV with HTL, Saturdays, 8 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m. and Sundays, on GNN Destiny Cable Channel 8, this week on "Power and Economic Justice and Nationalism" with former CJ Reynato Puno and KME chairman Jimmie Regalario; visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.com)