Court Administrator Marquez admits: Nothing illegal in Sereno’s creation of special committee, TWGs

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez on Tuesday admitted that there was nothing illegal in Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno's creation of a special committee to process petitions for retirement benefits for justices and judges and their surviving spouses.

Marquez said this as the House Committee on Justice deliberates on lawyer Lorenzo "Larry" Gadon's allegation in his impeachment complaint that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has inordinately delayed the resolution on the petitions for retirement benefits.

At the resumption of the House panel hearing, Quezon City Representative Jose Christopher "Kit" Belmonte asked Marquez to confirm his earlier statement that the Chief Justice may create special committees and technical working group (TWGs).

"Normally, it is initiated by the chief justices and signed by the two other senior justices," Marquez said.

Marquez earlier told the panel that the creation of the Special Committee on Retirement and Civil Service Benefits and the two TWGs under it had caused all applications received by the Office of the Clerk en banc from October 2015 to be held in "abeyance," hence, the supposed delay.

Belmonte then asked Marquez if there was anything illegal in Sereno's act of creating the special committee or the TWGs.

"Wala naman pong bawal," Marquez replied.

"Wala po akong alam na bawal na mag-create ng committee ang Chief Justice at saka dalawang senior justices," he added.

Belmonte afterwards read to Marquez Rule 2, Section 1 of the Internal Rules of the Supreme Court, which states that the Chief Justice "may... constitute supervisory or special committees headed by individual members of the court or working committees of court officials and personnel."

"Would this section be applicable or relevant to this case?" Belmonte asked Marquez.

He replied: "Maaari po because it's not the first instance that the Chief Justice and the two senior justices have created a committee."

Lawyer Jojo Lacanilao, spokesperson for Sereno, has said that the Chief Justice did not "intentionally delay" the action on the said petitions, which, in the first place, require the decision of the Supreme Court as a collegial body.

"The Chief Justice is sympathetic with the plight not just of retirees in the Judiciary, but of the people, who long for an expeditious resolution of their cases," he said in an emailed statement.

"To this end, she has even instituted measures to rationalize and expedite the very process respecting retirement benefits that Complainant assails," he added.

The House justice panel is deliberating on the impeachment complaint against Sereno, in an attempt to determine probable cause on Gadon's complaint. — RSJ, GMA News