Sereno, Morales to be honored as ‘icons of legal excellence’

The University of the Philippines Women’s Lawyers Circle (WILOCI) is set to honor Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales and several other female public servants as among this year’s “icons of legal excellence and public service.”

In a press statement, WILOCI said Sereno, Morales and the other awardees have shown “professionalism, excellence, and integrity” in their chosen field as proven by their achievements and unblemished track records.

The WILOCI said the awardees also continuously espouse the organization’s social advocacy of rendering free legal aid to the disadvantaged women, children and the poor.

Sereno

Sereno is the youngest and the first female to be appointed as the head of the SC. She started her career as a junior associate in a private law firm before deciding to teach in her alma mater, UP College of Law, for 19 years.

She was also a former faculty member at The Hague Academy of International Law in Cambodia.

During her stint at the UP College of Law, Sereno, together with her fellow professors, including the late Haydee Yorac, founded the Accesslaw, the first corporation that provides annotated electronic research system in Philippine Law.

She also served as legal counsel at the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body Secretariat in Geneva at the age of 38.

Morales

Meanwhile, Morales, a former SC Associate Justice was appointed as the Ombudsman in 2011.

It was during her term that the Office of the Ombudsman has significantly reduced the number backlog in criminal and administrative complaints pending in the office.

From 19,814 criminal and administrative complaints when Morales assumed office in 2011, the pending complaints were downed to 7,328 by the end of 2015.

Meanwhile, the conviction rate of cases filed by the Ombudsman in various courts has also increased to 74.5 percent by the end of 2015 from 33.3 percent in 2011.

Just on Wednesday, Morales was named as the only Filipino among the six recipients for this year of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards, which is considered as the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Piece Prize.

Other awardees

Aside from Sereno and Morales, other WILOCI awardees for this year are incumbent SC Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Aurora Rep. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo who is the sister of former Senator Edgardo Angara, and Securities and Exchange Commission chairperson Teresita Herbosa.

Also included as awardees were former senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Pia Cayetano, former chairperson of the Commission on Audit and now UN-Independent Advisory Audit Committee (IAAC) vice chairperson Grace Pulido-Tan, and former ambassaror and SEC chair Lilia Bautista.

Also to be awarded are former SC Justices Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera, Flerida Ruth Pineda-Romero, Minerva P. Gonzaga-Reyes, Consuelo Yñares-Santiago, Alice Austria-Martinez and Minita Chico-Nazario.

Posthumous awards will also be conferred to the late SC Justices Carolina Griño-Aquino and Irene Cortes.

The awarding ceremony will be held at the Manila Polo Club in Makati, Friday evening. —Elizabeth Marcelo/KBK, GMA News