Ex-court exec confirms Sereno got low grade in psychiatric exam

A former Supreme Court clerk of court on Wednesday confirmed that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno only received a score of 4 in her psychiatric test.

The test is part of the requirements she had to comply with in her application for the position of Supreme Court Chief Justice.

At the resumption of the House Committee on Justice hearing, former clerk of court Atty. Enriqueta Vidal said Sereno only got a score of 4 when she underwent the examination with the psychiatrists administered by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

In his complaint, lawyer Lorenzo "Larry" Gadon said Sereno failed the psychological exam administered by the JBC, garnering a grade of four with five as the lowest score.

"Under the existing JBC policy, 'an applicant to any position in the judiciary with a grade of 4 is unfit for the job,'" Gadon said in his complaint.

He added that Sereno had supposedly fired the two psychiatrists who gave her a poor grade by ordering that their contracts not be renewed as she "flies into a rage every time the issue of psychiatric testing comes up during the deliberations in the JBC."

Sereno has since denied reports that she fired the two psychiatrists who allegedly gave her a poor grade, saying it was the JBC that decided not to renew their contracts.

Even if she received such a score, Sereno argued that it is "not an offense, let alone an impeachable one."

But Vidal said it was not only Sereno who received a grade of 4, as there were other applicants who also garnered the same score.

She admitted, however, that she could no longer recall who the other applicants are.

The House panel, meanwhile, will still invite to the next hearing the two psychiatrists whom Sereno allegedly fired. —BAP/KG, GMA News