Maria Lourdes Sereno, the 169th Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, is the 24th Chief Justice.
She is the first appointee to the Supreme Court (SC) by President Noynoy Aquino and the youngest among the nominees for Chief Justice coming from the high tribunal. She is considered to be the first woman head of a judicial branch in any Southeast Asian sovereign state.
Below is the profile of Chief Justice Sereno:
Sereno was born on July 2, 1960, in Manila, to Margarito Aranal, a native of Siasi, Sulu, and Soledad Punzalan of Bay, Laguna, who served as a public school teacher.
EDUCATION
She graduated salutatorian from Kamuning Elementary School in 1972 and with honors from Quezon City High School in 1976.
Armed with scholarship, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1980.
With the same and additional scholarships, she finished her Bachelor of Laws degree from the UP College of Law at the University of the Philippines Diliman, graduating as Cum Laude and Class Valedictorian, passing the bar in 1984.
She took up units in Master of Arts in Economics in 1992 from the University of the Philippines School of Economics of UP Diliman before she left for the USA, where she earned her degree in Master of Laws from the University of Michigan Law School in 1993.
PRE-SUPREME COURT CAREER
Sereno started her career as a junior associate of the Sycip Salazar Feliciano and Hernandez law firm.
At the age of 38, she was appointed as legal counselor at the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body Secretariat in Geneva.
She was the only female member of the 1999 Preparatory Commission on Constitutional Reform where she headed the commission’s Steering Committee. In the same year, with Justice Jose Campos, Commissioner Haydee Yorac, and other professors from the UP College of Law, she co-founded Accesslaw, a corporation that provided the first annotated electronic research system in Philippine law.
She also served as legal counsel for various government offices including the Office of the President, Office of the Solicitor General, Manila International Airport Authority, and the Department of Trade and Industry. She previously headed the Information and Public Division office of the UP Law Complex. She was also a lecturer at The Hague Academy of International Law.
At the time of her appointment as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Sereno was executive director of the Asian Institute of Management Policy Center where she led important research and measurements of the competitiveness of local governments. She was also the president of Accesslaw Inc., had taught at University of the Philippines College of Law for 19 years, and served as a consultant for the United Nations, World Bank, and US Agency for International Development.
Sereno served as a co-counsel with Justice Florentino Feliciano on the Fraport case in Singapore, in which the Republic of the Philippines won the case.
She was also able to edit the book, Thirty Years and Beyond (UP Law, 1997).
She was the key writer on Law and Economics and the Constitution and Judicial Review of Economic Decisions.
She also drafted the legal framework for the operations of the first paperless trading of securities in the country for the Bureau of Treasury (BT).
AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
In her 25 years as a lawyer and educator, Sereno received the following awards:
1991 Provincial Citation by Camarines Sur for having successfully won before the Supreme Court a major boundary dispute with the province of Quezon
1998 The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) for her work in international trade law
2000 Most Outstanding Alumna Award, Quezon City High School
2003 Most Oustanding Alumna Award, Kamuning Elementary School
2014 Manuel L. Quezon Gawad Parangal Individual Awardee
2015 Tandang Sora Awardee
2016 Icon of Legal Excellence and Public Service, U.P. Women Lawyers’ Circle
All her hard work and experience prepared her for her service at the Supreme Court, especially when she broke the glass ceiling as the first woman Chief Justice.
Chief Justice Sereno led the court in many innovations and reforms that continue to this day. With her modernizing outlook and firm belief in the power of technology, she co-founded a corporation that developed the first annotated electronic research system in Philippine Law.
Her tenure as Chief Justice is marked by far-reaching reforms, including eCourts, automated hearings, case decongestion, continuous trials, and expanded small claims courts.
At the heart of her reform program is the strong conviction that justice and the law’s protection should be accessible and responsive to the most vulnerable Filipinos.
Because she was a staunch defender of judicial independence, Sereno was subjected to intense persecution.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is now a major voice for people-centered change in Philippine society. She is an advocate for respect for the dignity of every Filipino, integrity in public service, and just governance.
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