Tijam ‘happy’ for Sereno’s speaking trips, media interviews while on leave

BAGUIO CITY — Associate Justice Noel Tijam on Tuesday took an apparent swipe at Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno's activities, composed of trips across the country and media interviews, while she was on an indefinite leave from the high court.

During oral arguments on a quo warranto petition against Sereno, Tijam noted how Sereno while on leave busied herself giving public speeches and interviews to defend herself against her impeachment, while her colleagues at the tribunal were busy with court work.

"I am happy you have productively used your leave while were were busy deciding lots of cases. I understand you've been going around the country, attending lots of speaking engagements, also attending talk shows, giving interviews explaining your position on the impeachment charges as well as the quo warranto," Tijam said on his turn to interpellate Sereno.

Tijam also expressed "alarm" over Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno's "insinuation" that the allegations against her could be likened to a battle between good and evil.

Good vs. evil

Tijam, one of the justices whom Sereno had wanted out of deciding Solicitor General Jose Calida's petition for quo warranto, said the Court will decide the case based on evidence.

"I'm just alarmed by the insinuation that when you said 'evil will not triumph,' --there's some sort if insinuation that there is a morality play here... goodness versus evil," he said.

"May I just assure you that the members of the Court are not obsessed by that. We will decide the merits of the case based on the evidence presented and based on the law and the Constitution," he added.

At a speech before women judges in March, Sereno, who is admittedly religious, had hit "gimmicks" that attempt to remove her from her position, saying that a "good judge" keeps the faith that good will eventually win over evil.

"When beset with malicious allegations, the good judge replies with truth. When harassed, the good judge maintains her composure. When pressed to yield to evil, the good judge says, 'No I will not.' Always and always the good judge fights for every space that evil tries to claim, all with the faith that in the end, good will triumph and all evil will have to end," she said.

Tijam's red tie

Tijam also twitted one of Sereno's grounds for asking him to inhibit from the quo warranto petition, saying, "I hope you're not angry with me because you said I wore a red tie to a particular flag ceremony in the Court."

"I did not know you adhered to a color coding for purposes of determining bias or prejudice," he added, to which Sereno responded there were more "serious" grounds.

Tijam had testified at the House justice committee's hearing on impeachment hearings against Sereno, and was quoted in a newspaper article as saying that Sereno would be liable for culpable violation of the Constitution if she continued to snub the House panel's proceedings.

"Just to disabuse the minds of the public, the members of the Court who went to Congress did not there voluntarily. We were invited as resource speakers and we were authorized and given permission by the en banc to testify on matters which are truthful, nothing more, nothing less," he said. — MDM, GMA News