CJ's mind as seen by psychologists

By Amado P. Macasaet | January 15, 2014

So far there have been two events that obviously prove the accuracy of the psychiatric tests conducted on Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno.  

According to the Jan. 8 issue of the Manila Times, the test shows that the Chief Justice IQ is “109 average. “

There is nothing really average in a Chief Justice who exerted her influence in convincing a peer, Associate Justice Mar del Castillo to give up his business class seat on a PAL flight to Cebu just so she could sit beside Sgt. Vince Esmeralda, obviously her favorite bodyguard.

Her person is absolutely safe in the business class of the aircraft.  

The Chief Justice did not have an inkling of how dirty people’s minds are. By sitting beside her bodyguard instead of a peer, she might have created unfounded suspicions that, to unthinking people who do not know her that well, she may have an unusual fancy for a bodyguard.  

In fairness to her, she has proven that she is good at what she does as a lawyer. The change in mood and behavior may have come from the fact that in successful private law practice, she always had somebody — most of the time the highly respected former Associate Justice Florentino P. Feliciano of Sycip Law to consult and maybe pour out her successes and frustrations. 

Now she is alone by her lonesome self and appears to have an unusual fondness for the person who guards her life, Sgt. Esmeralda. 

As Head Magistrate, she found herself the leader of the Court. It seems that she does not have the capability to discern between being Chief Justice and being a woman of flesh and blood who must lead the Court not merely by showing her peers her unequalled capacity to interpret the Constitution and the laws but just as importantly by the way she deals with her peers and herself. 

The mood swings of the Chief Justice is variously interpreted as a manifestation of her frame of mind as analyzed in a psychiatric examination conducted on all aspirants for seats in the Supreme Court. 

The way Chief Justice Sereno has been conducting herself indicates that her IQ is not really average. It could be well below. 

Yet she is richly possessed with the knowledge of the Constitution and the laws. 

The worst example of her violent mood swings was scolding Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio  during an en banc session.  

If she knew about the necessity of getting the cooperation of justices, she would not have shamed Justice Carpio in front of  the other members of the Court. 

If the had been careful about her personal conduct, she would not be seen sitting with her bodyguard in the business  class section of PAL. The seat belonged to Justice Del Castillo.  She must have asked that it be given up for her bodyguard. 

The reported tongue-lashing of a peer is variously interpreted as not so much  her lack of ability to lead the court  but as a magistrate who must earn the  respect of the associate justices.

It is to be emphasized, however, that this “flaw” has nothing to do with her ability to interpret the Constitution and the laws. She is best at what she does. But her verbal lashing of the most senior of her peers does not tell much about her competence or ability to deal with members of her court.  

She showed higher respect for her bodyguard over her peer like Justice Del Castillo. The scolding Justice Carpio and the “unseating” of Justice Del Castillo in favor of her bodyguard leave a bad taste in the mouth.

Again, it may prove the accuracy of the psychiatric or psychological test conducted on her. Otherwise she would not have scolded Justice Carpio and forced her way to have her bodyguard sit with her in a short flight to Cebu.

This is not always a function of erudition. It is more of recognition of the necessity to respect the associate justices.. 

 Why  should she fear harm might come her way in the cabin of an airplane and why should she feel more safe having her bodyguard sit beside her and embarrass a peer, Justice Del Castillo?

Does this behavior lend proof to the psychiatric report that, according to the Manila Times 

“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.”

Nothing manifests this trait or psychological make up better than scolding Mr. Carpio in an en banc session and obviously pressuring Justice Del Castillo to give up his seat in favor of her bodyguard.

In my long years of trying to observe the Court and in fact try to help preserve and promote its reputation, it pains me to speculate that Chief Justice Sereno has denied herself the opportunity to lead the Court probably not by choice by precisely, though unknowingly, by her frame of mind as seen in a psychiatric  test. 

In the end, the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of President Aquino who obviously did not give any weight to the psychological or psychiatric report. 

It now appears that the two of them are peas in a pod. The cause of justice, in fact, the cause of the Office of the President, is hardly served by this trait common to the President and his Chief Justice.

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