SC Justice Morales to skip traditional retirement rites

Supreme Court Associate Justice Conchita Carpio Morales, one of the known dissenters in the high court, will hang her judicial robe without the traditional retirement ceremonies for outgoing magistrates. Morales opted to do away with the retirement rites, according to SC spokesman and administrator Jose Midas Marquez. Morales will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 on Sunday, June 19, but the retirement ceremonies were scheduled on Friday. Whenever a justice retires from the Supreme Court, his or her colleagues traditionally host ceremonies in his or her honor. They likewise give him or her tokens that are symbolic of the retiring magistrate's career in the high court. Last week, retirement rites were held for then SC associate justice Eduardo Nachura, who bowed out of service June 13. Present at the event were former Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Pattern of dissent Morales is an applicant for the position of Ombudsman, which was vacated last May when Merceditas Gutierrez, who was then about to face an impeachment trial at the Senate, resigned. While in the high court, Morales was known to have dissented on cases decided in Arroyo's favor during her presidency. Such voting pattern prompted Arroyo to file with the Judicial and Bar Council an opposition to Morales' Ombudsman bid. Arroyo questioned Morales' independence in handling cases and corruption allegations involving her and her family. "If appointed Ombudsman, I sincerely believe that Justice Morales would not have the required independence and impartiality in resolving cases involving me and my immediate family," said Arroyo, now a member of the House of Representatives. "While a member of the Supreme Court, in major cases involving my administration, and lately, involving efforts to investigate graft and corruption cases committed likewise during my administration, she has consistently voted to nullify or validate such acts," she added. Morales, appointed by Arroyo to the SC in 2002, is one of the most senior justices in the present Supreme Court bench. The two other senior justices are Antonio Carpio and Renato Corona, who eventually became chief justice. - Sophia Dedace/KBK, GMA News