Supreme Court Associate Justice Noel Tijam, who reached his mandatory retirement age of 70 on Saturday, Jan. 5, has expressed confidence that the 15-member bench is in “capable hands.”
Tijam, who was President Rodrigo Duterte’s second appointee to the SC, attended the flag ceremony on Monday to give his `valedictory message’ to his colleagues at the high court.
Tijam, who penned the decision ousting then-Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, admitted that his stint as SC magistrate has been a “thrilling and enriching experience” and that is why it “almost feels like leaving home.”
“To everyone here in the Court, I leave here knowing that the Court is in capable hands,” Tijam told SC colleagues and personnel present during the flag raising ceremony.
“People always say that the judiciary is passive, but if there is anything that my two-year stint here in the Supreme Court has shown me, it is that all of . . . are watchful and vigilant in protecting all the ideals that this institution stands for.”
Last Friday, the SC held a retirement ceremony where Tijam was given the Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos Award and several tokens representing the judiciary.
In a speech during the ceremony, Tijam recognized public criticism of court actions, but he lamented that “oftentimes, these opinions are given evidently without those persons having actually read the Court’s decisions.”
According to him, the SC is not one to engage in public debate, but its decisions is its rebuttal to “unfair criticism.”
“In this day and age when everyone seems to have an opinion and when great institutions are so recklessly maligned and ridiculed, I am confident that the Supreme Court will remain strong because the best antidote to falsehood and fallacy are truth and reason which the Court has never denied the public,” he stressed.
Because of this, Tijam called on the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the official organization of all Philippine lawyers, to refrain from publicly criticizing court decisions and from signing and publishing manifestos.
It can be recalled that the IBP criticized the quo warranto decision action removed Sereno as top magistrate.
“They are not advocates of propagandists of causes, but keepers of the public faith in the courts’ capacity to render just decisions,” Tijam stressed.
Apart from intellect, the retired justice said a good judge should have “sound judicial temperament” and be an effective leader.
“We certainly do not want a spectacle of a judge going ballistic over a decision of this Court, or behaving like a petulant child when she does not get a desired courtroom.”
He also cautioned against “arrogance” and “self-importance” among judges, and urged the Judicial and Bar Council to ensure that candidates for judicial posts undergo a “comprehensive and reliable” psychological examination.
Tijam also appealed to the public to continue to “have faith” in the Supreme Court, claiming that it has set processes and programs ensuring transparency, accountability, and the speedy resolution of cases.
