SC exec: Nothing irregular if SC justice skips retirement rites

There will be nothing irregular if outgoing Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales decides to do away with the traditional rites for retiring magistrates, said SC spokesman and administrator Jose Midas Marquez. At a news briefing on Friday, Marquez said instead of the usual rites for retiring magistrates, the other SC justices will attend the reception dinner that Morales will host. Marquez belied speculations that the traditional rites were done away with because the other justices are expected to boycott it. "I suppose everyone will be attending [the reception dinner], except the chief justice [Renato Corona] who will be arriving tonight. The chief justice attended a conference for chief justices in the Asia Pacific, in South Korea. The only flight available is at 8:40 in the evening," said Marquez. As early as six months ago, Morales already requested that no retirement ceremonies be held for her, Marquez said. 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. They likewise give the outgoing justice tokens that are symbolic of the retiring magistrate's career in the high court. However, Marquez said justices can break tradition. "She [Morales] did not give any reason but this is not the first time [a justice will skip the rites]. I think Justice Minerva Gonzaga-Reyes also waived her retirement ceremonies," said Marquez. The dissenter Morales is an applicant for the position of Ombudsman, which was vacated last May. Former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez resigned in May, just days before an impeachment trial against her at the Senate was about to begin. While in the high court, Morales was known to have dissented on cases decided in the favor of former President Gloria Macagapal-Arroyo. The other known dissenters in the high court are Associate Justices Antonio Carpio (Morales' cousin) and Maria Lourdes Sereno, the first appointee of President Benigno Aquino III to the high court. One of those seeking to block Morales' appointment as Ombudsman is Arroyo, who said that Morales' voting pattern in the high court would compromise her independence in dealing with cases involving Arroyo 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 SC bench. - VVP, GMA News