Sara Duterte opposes Midas Marquez’s bid for SC justice post

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, the president's daughter, has opposed the candidacy of Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez for the position of Supreme Court (SC) associate justice.

The development was made public during the Judicial and Bar Council's (JBC) interview of Marquez, an applicant for the High Court seat vacated by retired justice and incumbent Ombudsman Samuel Martires, on Wednesday.

Duterte-Carpio had earlier claimed an SC aspirant was trying to win her favor by allegedly working for the withdrawal of a 2011 disbarment case filed against her over an incident where she punched a court sheriff.

Asked by JBC member Milagros Fernan-Cayosa about what turns out to be a formal opposition, Marquez had a few words, saying he thinks he had said "more than enough" in his official comment to the mayor's affidavit.

A follow-up question by another council member, retired judge Toribio Ilao Jr., however, prompted the long-time SC official to explain his position further.

"The allegation that I talked to the complainants, to the witnesses, I did something, I maneuvered, manipulated, actually, Your Honor, with all due respect, is not accurate, Your Honor," Marquez said.

In a lengthy explanation, he denied telling the sheriffs to withdraw the disbarment case against Duterte-Carpio, since the Sheriffs Confederation of the Philippines had already decided to do so in an April meeting in Tagaytay — months before September, the "only time" he talked to them about the matter.

The sheriffs only asked him if they could withdraw the case, he said.

"And so I said it's up to you, it's up to you, but I told them you must be reminded that withdrawal of a disbarment case is not controlling on the court," he said.

The sheriffs also hoped to secure an audience with the city mayor, he said, citing the sherrifs' affidavit, but that the meeting did not push through.

Gemma Sotto

Marquez was also asked about one Gemma Sotto, leading him to explain that he had met the woman and her son on official business in London last year, and later hired the son, a young lawyer, as a contractual law clerk at the Office of the Court Administrator.

Cayosa asked if the Court Administrator knew Sotto was going to go to Davao City "purportedly for your benefit in order to approach the mayor."

In response, Marquez said he did not exactly know what Sotto was going to do but generally alluded to "well-meaning friends or even acquaintances" who had offered him help.

"I just say thank you without really me knowing what they were going to do and to what extent they will be doing whatever," he said.

"I am so rest assured with my qualifications, my credentials my track record, my experience here in the Court that for me, these qualifications will stand or fall on their own merits. But I cannot tell all these well-meaning friends that 'no, I do not need your help, I do not need your support,'" he added.

World Bank funds

Marquez was also asked to respond to an administrative complaint filed against him over the alleged misuse of loan funds the SC received from the World Bank in 2003.

This alleged anomaly was part of an opposition against him when he was applying to succeed retired associate justice Presbitero Velasco Jr.

Marquez countered that the funds, allegedly worth $21.9 million, did not pass through the Office of the Court Administrator.

If he had committed the misappropriation alleged in the "ridiculous" complaint, he "would have been long gone from the Court, but I was not even made to comment by the Supreme Court on any of these issues," he said.

He said the Office of the Ombudsman forwarded the complaint to the SC and found out that the justices had required the court's Program Management Office, not him, to comment on the allegations.

Marquez is one of the 13 contenders for the post vacated by Martires. He is competing against 11 Court of Appeals justices and one regional trial court judge. — MDM, GMA News