Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro is testifying in the impeachment hearing on SC Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno being conducted by the Justice Committee of the House of Representatives.
De Castro enumerated to the lawmakers the administrative orders issued by Sereno which were not approved and which did not follow the decisions of the Supreme Court en banc.
"Meron pong RCAO (Regional Court Administrative Office) pero iba yung ginawa ni CJ Sereno. Judiciary Decentralized Office (JDO) ang ginawa nya (there is an RCAO but what Sereno did was different. What she formed was a JDO)," De Castro explained.
De Castro was referring to the JDO in Region 7 based in Cebu.
De Castro said, "Sereno issued administrative orders that did not conform to the en banc. The chief justice cannot create an office. That's a legislative power."
She added the supervision of such projects lies in the Office of the Court Administrator.
She recalled although she was aghast after learning about the actions of Sereno, she still showed respect for Sereno so she wrote a memorandum to the SC en banc to call their attention to these developments.
De Castro believes Sereno committed a transgression of the constitutional authority of the en banc.
She said Sereno did not reply to her letter.
SC Court Administrator Midas Marquez also attended the hearing.