Chief Justice Sereno
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 29 August 2012 00:00
- Written by AMADO P. MACASAET
By A Web design Company
‘The suggestion was these people would bite off a larger share of the financial award to be paid by the Philippine government if it lost the case. That’s what probably drove the lawyers to fight the case tooth and nail.’
Newly-appointed Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno is one of many magistrates I have not talked to or met. Never in my life did I ever think that I should dare see any member of the Court, least of all its Chief.
This is clearly borne out of my belief that the Chief Justice and the members of the Court should not be disturbed or approached even by media persons for any reason.
The members of the Court, as I repeatedly assert, should keep to themselves. Their routine is home and their chambers where they should sharpen their knowledge of the law for justice to triumph at all times.
I know very little of Meilou (as she is called by friends). I knew her nickname long before she was appointed to the Court by President Aquino in August 2010.
As it turned out, I did not have to meet her to know her mind about the law, this time about private international law. She was the able assistant of retired Justice Florentino P. Feliciano, who assisted the American lawyers hired by the government of Gloria Arroyo to fight the arbitration case filed by Fraport of Germany.
Fraport, the foreign partner of Philippine International Airport Terminal Corp., organized by Cheng Yong, charged the Philippine government with violating the bilateral investment agreement with Germany.
The Philippine government hired White & Case, known experts in international arbitration cases. They were the principal lawyers of the Philippine government.
I had a few sources in the Philippine panel but Meilou was not one of them. I tried to get in touch with her whenever she was in the Philippines. All of my efforts failed.
I was told that if I wanted to read the records or transcripts of the arbitration hearings, I should get them from the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), the arbitration arm of the World Bank.
Fraport wanted about $500 million in compensation for alleged violation of the investment agreement. I discovered that key people in the Arroyo regime wanted the Philippines to lose the case. That might have rubbed wrong way the American lawyers, Justice Feliciano and Meilou.
The suggestion was these people would bite off a larger share of the financial award to be paid by the Philippine government if it lost the case.
That’s what probably drove the lawyers to fight the case tooth and nail.
Meilou Sereno, I heard, carried the battle with White & Case. In the end, the Philippine government won the case.
The Philippine government was accused of allowing a few of its people to take fat bribes. I was furnished a tape recording of a conversation which was supposed to prove that a lawyer, then close to the Arroyo regime, openly solicited bribes during a board meeting in Shangri-La Hotel in Makati among Fraport directors who are all Germans. I could not make head or tail of the conversation.
It turned out that the board meeting was conducted in German. This and the fact that Fraport had an initial public offering in Frankfurt that turned sour to the point that prompted massive protests from the German investors might have forced Meilou to convince ICSID that the Philippine government was the victim, not Fraport. She and the American lawyers had the goods against Fraport.
Meilou might have known that the Anti-Money Laundering Council laid its hands on records showing that some German officials of Fraport and the wife of Cheng Yong had “secret” dollar deposits in some Philippine banks.
Unfortunately, those records were invalidated by the Supreme Court when it ruled that they were illegally obtained since the petition to produce the documents was filed ex parte. The owners of the deposits were not notified of the petition.
Justice Feliciano and his assistant, Meilou Sereno, must have been deeply moved by the murders of Pasay RTC Judge Hendrik Guingoyon whom I personally knew and assistant solicitor general Bellosillo who was killed with his son near the Parañaque City Hall while in possession of documents tending to show that Fraport’s own documents proved that it spent only $40 million of the $400 million invested in Terminal III with Piatco.
Justice Feliciano and Meilou objected almost vehemently to the expropriation of the assets of Piatco in Terminal III. The solicitor general proceeded with expropriation just the same. Piatco was paid P3 billion for the expropriation.
Meilou played a key role in winning the arbitration case for the Philippine government. Justice Feliciano picked her to help him and the American lawyers.
Beyond that I do not know much of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno. The records show that she has also dissented with most senior associate justice Antonio Carpio in at least two cases.
In one ruling, penned by Chief Justice Renato Corona, Ms. Sereno and Mr. Carpio dissented in the Manotok land case where the majority ruled that all deeds of conveyances that did not have the signature of the Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources are invalid and the friar lands bought by private persons, including Severino Manotok, must revert to the state.
In another case, the duo protested the temporary restraining order against the Secretary of Justice.
The order would have allowed Gloria Arroyo to go abroad. Carpio and Sereno declared that the TRO was defective because Gloria Arroyo failed to comply with one of four conditions required by the Court.
Justice Sereno made it on record that a peer prevented the publication of her dissent.
We have two brilliant lawyers and dissenters in the Supreme Court. Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno is now Chief Justice appointed by President Aquino. Her dissenting partner, most senior justice Antonio T. Carpio, was appointed by Gloria Arroyo but dissented against big important cases involving the former president.
It bears saying that Ms. Sereno’s rich background in economics would help her immensely in understanding the implications and complications of cases involving economics in her court.
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