The news item, “Probe justice for sale at CA, Sereno urged,” reported that the Alliance for Good Government, through its spokesperson, Alberto Vicente, has denounced a “female justice of the Court of Appeals” for her shenanigans, using “her nephew as a conduit” to extort millions of pesos from litigants (News, 11/3/15). Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno should waste no time securing evidence from Vicente who, we think, would not dare come out with that very serious accusation without anything to back it up.
In this connection, we wonder whatever happened to the Supreme Court’s investigation of a certain “Madam Arlene” who was said to be fixing cases in the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. The chief justice promised to get to the bottom of that scandal. That was years ago! Nothing has been heard of it since. Is it possible some justices of the Supreme Court were really involved, which is why Sereno hopes to bury or sweep that issue under the rug?
The public deserves to know the truth. Delays in the delivery of justice have caused to persist malicious rumors that Court of Appeals and Supreme Court justices might just be biding their time for the “right price” for the cases they are handling! If Chief Justice Sereno is really sincere about ridding the judiciary of “scalawags in robes,” she should act more swiftly on complaints like this, which strike at the very heart of our justice system. Dithering gives the impression she is helpless.
—NIMFA RINA RICAFORT, ricafortnimfarina@gmail.com