May-December recess? We're deliberating, not holidaying, says SC

The Sereno Supreme Court may not be holding sessions for the full-month of May and the second half of December but it does not mean that the justices go on holiday during those stretches, said SC spokesman Theodore Te.

Te was reacting to a Monday item in this space noting that even Cory Aquino spokesman, former Senator Rene Saguisag, had joined the grumbling about the Sereno court's laid-back work schedule as "indolent."

Saguisag, now a law professor in San Beda College, also expressed dismay about the present Supreme Court's penchant to "stage presscons, speechify, travel abroad, socialize, accept accept."

Te also revealed that the Supreme Court has also set aside the whole month of November, in addition to May and the second-half of December, as "court recess" where the justices switch to the writing cycle.

The Supreme Court, by way of background, has two cycles -- the adjudication and the writing cycles, with the latter more commonly known in judicial circles as "recess."

The adjudication cycle goes on the whole year, except in the months of May, November and the second half of December as earlier noted, when the whole bench and its divisions do not meet to decide and deliberate on cases "but the justices continue to report for work in order to catch up on decision-writing and submission of drafts," Te said.

The only days last month that the Supreme Court did not work, aside from the national holidays, was on December 12 (Te actually said it was a "no transaction" day), when the justices held their Christmas party, on December 23 afternoon and on December 29, the latter having been declared by the Sereno court as a judicial holiday.

This January, the Supreme Court like all government offices will have lost six working days to holidays, including four to Catholic Church-related functions.

Asked why the current Supreme Court had resorted to the May and December recess when the previous SC administrations had deliberated and issued decisions for the whole month of May and even in the second half of the merry month of December, Te replied, "I cannot comment for lack of knowledge on the matter."

source:  Philippine Star Column of Victor Agustin