By Moira Encina
Eagle News Service
(Eagle News) — Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo De Castro has accepted the resignation of Atty. Theodore Te as head of the Supreme Court’s Public Information Office and as spokesperson of the high court.
Te’s position as Supreme Court spokesperson is coterminous with that of ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. But his appointment was extended prior to De Castro’s appointment during the time that Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio was the acting Chief Justice. The appointment was also signed by the three chairpersons of the SC at the time, including De Castro.
The extended appointment was valid until the time that a new Chief Justice is appointed in the high court.
Te’s resignation is effective on September 7.
In his resignation letter, Te respectfully and sincerely offered his congratulations to De Castro’s appointment as new Chief Justice.
He said that De Castro should be “given a free hand” in choosing the next SC spokesperson and head of the PIO.
Te said he would be “returning to full time academic life” which he had put on hold starting 2013 when he was chosen by Sereno to serve as SC spokesperson.
“It has been a pleasure to have served on three committees which Your Honor has led during my tenure as Chief of the Public Information Office. May I respectfully offer my every good wish for your and the Court’s success,” he said in his resignation letter submitted to De Castro’s office.
It was Te who posted the cryptic and controversial tweet, “I dissent” in a full black background, shortly after he read the decision of the high court that ousted his former boss, Sereno, as chief justice on May 11, 2018.
Te would be replaced by Atty Maria Victoria Gleoresty Guerra as acting PIO chief and spokesperson of the Supreme Court. Guerra had also served previously as acting spokesperson of the high court.
(Eagle News Service)
