(Eagle News) – Newly appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin started his first press briefing with a request to the media and to the public for understanding, asking for a few more days so that he could complete his written detaileds plans as head of the Supreme Court.
His appointment as head of the highest court of the land, surprised him, he said.
In his first press briefing, minutes after he took his oath of office on Wednesday, Nov. 28, Chief Justice Bersamin said he did not really expect or aim to head the highest tribunal and only joined the selection process for Chief Justice because he happened to be the third most senior justice in the high court.
Although he was not the most senior justice of the high court before his appointment, Bersamin served the longest in the Philippine judicial system as he was first appointed as regional trial court judge, 32 years ago, in April 1986.
“Ako po’y nakikiusap lamang sa inyong lahat na unawain ninyo ang aking mga pagkukulang dahil unang una banggitin ko sa inyo, hindi ko hinangad kahit na noong umpisa pa lamang na maging Punong Mahistrado (I am asking for your understanding regarding my shortcomings because first of all, I will tell you this, I did not aspire even from the very start to be the Chief Justice),” he told reporters in his first press briefing.
“I joined this nomination process, selection process, only because I was the number 3 rank in the Supreme Court, and I happened to also win the vote of the Judicial and Bar Council,” Bersamin explained.
Bersamin is the third most senior justice of the Supreme Court after Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio who was appointed to the high tribunal in 2001, and Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta who was appointed in January 2009. Both Carpio and Peralta, together with Associate Justices Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Andres Reyes Jr., and Bersamin are in the JBC shortlist for Chief Justice submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte.
-Longest service in the judiciary at 32 years-
Bersamin earned his undergraduate degree from the University of the Philippines and graduated from the University of the East College of Law in 1973. He placed 9th in the 1973 Bar Examinations with an average of 86.3%. From 1974 up to 1986, he was in private practice. He was appointed as Quezon City RTC judge on April 2, 1986 by then President Corazon Aquino.
He was a professor at the Ateneo Law School, the University of the East College of Law, and the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law. He was also a special lecturer at the College of Law, University of Cebu in 2006, and continues to lecture for the Philippine Judicial Academy.
In April 2003, Bersamin was elevated to the Court of Appeals by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who later appointed him to the Philippine Supreme Court in April 2009.
Bersamin, who hails from Abra, said he does not even remember ever having a conversation with President Duterte.
-Bersamin: “I never even had a conversation (with the President)” –
“Many people would probably not believe that I do not know the President. The President and I never even had a conversation,” he said.
It is for this reason, he said, that he could not believe at first that he was chosen by President Duterte as the 25th Supreme Court Chief Justice succeeding former Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo De Castro. He takes over the reins of the high court from Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio who had served as acting Chief Justice after De Castro’s retirement.
Bersamin said that he trusts in the wisdom of the President when he appointed him, when asked by reporters regarding seniority in the judiciary.
“I will not tackle that part about who between me and any other aspirant for this position to which I have been already appointed fared as far as comparing experiences is concerned,” he said.
-Bersamin: “I just stand on my personal record”-
“I just stand on my own personal record. I think that I have served the longest in the judiciary. I leave that to the President to make a decision – what he meant by giving priority or preference to seniority. I cannot second guess the President. But let us trust in his wisdom. If he appointed me, that should be the end of it. And I don’t think that it will be fair to my colleagues to make a judgment in comparing them to me.”
“I may lack all qualifications that they have, but it is still up to the appointing power to exercise the discretion to choose from us who were properly nominated,” he said.
Bersamin is a recipient of several awards in the judiciary, including the Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos Award for Outstanding RTC Judge in 2002. He was also chosen by the Chief Justice Fred Ruzi Castro Memorabilia Commission as the RTC judge who had the Best Decision in Civil Law and the Best Decision in Criminal Law from among all RTC judges in 1999.
He is also set to receive the Gusi Peace International Award tonight, Wednesday, Nov. 28.
Among his decisions which he wrote was that declaring as unconstitutional the Disbursement Acceleration Program during the time of former President Benigno Aquino Jr., in 2014.
He also voted in favor of the distribution of the Hacienda Luisita land to its farmer beneficiaries.
He also among the SC justices who voted to declare the controversial Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) as unconstitutional.
He is set to retire in 11 months, once he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 in October 2019.
“It will be 11 work-filled months for me,” he said.
-Bersamin corrects reporter’s concept of “independence” in the judiciary-
Bersamin said that in his long years in the judiciary, he had tried his best “to come out with a fair, legal and valid ruling.”
“Let me assure you that I have always given these matters analytical attention and deep study, so when the time comes for me to give a vote, if it is a collegial court or to render a judgment when I was still at the trial court, I always did my best to come out with a fair, legal and valid ruling,” he said.
He also corrected the wrong impression that to be independent is to not agree with the side of the government, when he was asked by a reporter on how he would maintain the judicial independence of the Supreme Court.
“As far as that question goes, maybe your concept of judicial independence is that government should lose the case. I hate to disappoint you. The government is often better at the arguments than the other side,” he said.
“There are also many cases when the government loses, and yet you do not call that independence,” he noted. “It’s just that the government had less of the merits of the case compared to the other side.”
“That question is loaded against the government,” he said as he corrected the wrong perception of a reporter on the concept of judicial independence.
“My voting record. Well, it is there. Sometimes I join the decision against the government, sometimes I go in favor of the government.”
“As far as the law is concerned I was independent,” Bersamin said.
-Correcting misimpressions on the judiciary-
The new Chief Justice also corrected the misimpression on the high court by the public, and said that this is one of the things that he would like to correct during his time as Chief Justice.
“People in the lower rungs, may have misperceived what is happening on the higher levels,” he said.
Bersamin said that there is no problem regarding camaraderie among justices in the Supreme Court as they all are very close to each other.
“I do not think we have any problems about camaraderie. We are so close to each other that we have good times together despite our differences in philosophy, in approaches and learning. The public must be assured that we have restored collegiality,” he said.
“Ang samahan po namin ay napakaganda,” he said.
(Eagle News Service)
