- Written by Benjamin B. Pulta
- Friday, 21 December 2012 00:00
DUE TO LEAK OF HER DISTURBING PSYCHO TEST RESULTS
With the leak of Supreme Court Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno’s psychiatric evaluation that showed she not only obtained a very low grade of 4, which should have disqualified her from the position of SC Chief Justice, but also that her psychiatric test results said that Sereno “projects a happy mood but has depressive markers, too,” apart from her “strong tendency to make decisions based on current mood, thus outcome is highly subjective and self-righteous.”
Even as the leaked reports saw print in the newspapers, the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) did not deny the results.
The psychiatric and psychological results on Sereno’s test showed that Sereno is “dramatic and emotional, she appears energetic and all smiles and agreeable, but with religious preoccupation in almost all significant aspects of her life.
“She projects a happy mood but has depressive markers too. There is a strong tendency to make decisions based on current mood thus, outcome is highly subjective and self-righteous.”
It was during her first time as CJ in the flag ceremony that she claimed that it was God who had anointed her to become the Chief Justice.
The statement was made fun of by Filipinos.
It must have been one of her mood swings that also caused Sereno to fire the court psychologists days before Christmas, despite her claims of religiosity, of her charitable and forgiving soul, none of these traits appear to back up her claims, after she terminated the employment of court psychologists, the Tribune learned yesterday.
A source privy to the matter said the psychometricians were ordered fired by the head magistrate following last August’s controversy over a leakage of the results of Sereno’s psychological evaluation when Sereno applied for the chief justice position.
Sereno who now chairs the JBC, earlier tasked the collegial body to remove the psychological tests to applicants to posts in the judiciary, although this was reportedly junked by the members of the JBC.
Sereno has been trying to hide the fact that she had obtained a grade of 4, out of 5, 1 being the highest and 5 failing.
A Grade of 1 is considered as Excellent, a Grade of 2 is Very Satisfactory, a Grade of 3 is Satisfactory, a Grade of 4 is Not Satisfactory and a Grade of 5 is Very Unsatisfactory.
Under the JBC rules, obtaining a grade of 4 automatically disqualifes her for the position.
President Aquino knew of the low grade obtained by Sereno, but still chose her to be his Chief Justice, with too many senior justices bypassed.
Sereno, at the time of her aspiring for the top judicial post, was just a junior associate justice.
The JBC bent its own rules, and placed her in the shortlist.
One leaked report said that a court insider lamented that JBC is becoming a “puppet” of Malacañang because of the inclusion of candidates who almost flunked the psychological test in its shortlist.
The newspaper report quoted the court insider as saying: “I cannot understand JBC right now. It is very clear that if an ordinary lawyer, judge or justice applying for promotion got a grade of four in their psychiatric test, they will not be recommended. But in this case, the ones applying want the chief justice position and the Council still managed to vote for those who got low marks in their psychiatric tests. That is a dangerous precedent.”
After the leak on her psychiatric and psychological test was made public, Sereno continues to fight for the removal of the psuchiatric test for applicants to the judiciary.
The JBC Office of Policy and Development Research said in a memorandum issued in October that the “psychiatric evaluation” has “become the bottleneck” in the processing of JBC applications and that it has not been an “effective screening tool in weeding out undesirable candidates” in the judiciary.
Sereno and Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, got a low score of 4 in the test.
Last August, a leaked copy of Sereno’s psychological report found her emotional and mental state and her depressive moods, which make for questionable decisions from her.
Section 1, Rule 6 of the JBC Rules states: “Good physical health and sound mental/psychological and emotional condition of the applicant play a critical role in his capacity and capability to perform the delicate task of administering justice.”
The JBC has four outsourced psychiatrists who conduct the psychometric and psychological tests.
Instead of replying to the charges of her mental and emotional instability, Sereno imposed a so called “dignified silence” by letting the rulings speak for themselves, which policy does not seem to work well for her, as more and more information is being leaked out, such as the
In the case of Sereno, the report said that she keeps a smiling face to project that she is happy.
Apparenly, she was not happy with the leak that she fired four court psychologists, perhaps suspecting that they had caused the leak.
Not only is she not able to lead the high court, as the senior justices do not seem to hold her up in their esteem.
Just recently, Sereno came up with a falsified resolution claiming that the en banc had already approved the reopening and relaunching of the Regional Trial Court Administrator Office (RCAO) in the Visayas, but was challegened by Senior Justice Teresita De Castro, who, in a memo, pointed out that there was never any approval of the reopening of the RCAO, among other illegal actions made by Sereno.
The en banc ordred the fake resolution revoked, as Sereno, even as CJ, has no power to unilaterally issue any resolutions without the en banc’s approval.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has amended a resolution drafted by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Board of Governors regarding the filing of certificates of candidacy of IBP officers who will run for public office in the May 13, 2013 elections.
In an en banc ruling, the SC amended the said IBP resolution.
The SC resolved that “the IBP officers, local and national, who will run for elective office will be deemed resigned from the date of the start of the official campaign period, and not from the date of filing of [CoCs.]”
The joint resolution was adopted due to the advance filing of CoC on Oct.1-5, 2012, or more than seven months from the May 13, 2013 local and national elections due to the implementation of the Automated Election Law.
“Whereas, under the previous manual election system, the filing of [CoC] was usually done close to the start of the 45-day campaign period for local elective offices or 90 days for national elective offices[,]” the IBP resolution said.
The SC cited the recent case of Penera vs. Comelec wherein the SC ruled that any person who files his CoC “shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period, and not upon the filing of such [CoC].”
“[W]hile the Omnibus Election Code provides for automatic resignation of appointive government officials upon filing of [CoC], this rule, however, may not strictly apply to IBP officers, not being government officials,” the SC said.
The SC resolution, signed by Clerk of Court . Enriqueta E. Vidal, added that the advance resignations of IBP officers due to advance filing of CoC—and long before the start of the campaign period—would unduly prejudice the IBP and concerned officers seeking elective posts. With PNA.
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