By LUZ RIMBAN
CHIEF Justice Renato Corona will oversee the computerization of all 2,200 courts throughout the country as part of what a High Court official said was the strengthening of the judicial branch.
Court Administrator Midas Marquez, who is also the High Tribunal’s spokesperson, told a gathering of member of the Philippine Press Institute Thursday night that the Supreme Court under Corona would strive to dispose of the backlog of cases that has plagued the country’s judicial system for the longest time.
Marquez said the Corona court would be “a strong, competent and incorruptible court” that would act as check and balance to the executive.
Corona, the country’s 23rd chief justice, assumed the position amid public criticism that outgoing president Gloria Arroyo overstepped her powers when she appointed him to the post just a little over a month before her term expires.
Arroyo critics argued that appointing the next chief justice should have been left to her successor. Corona was once Arroyo’s chief of staff and now leads a court packed with her appointees.
Corona will serve eight-and-a-half years as chief justice, outlasting Arroyo’s successor, Benigno Aquino III by more than two years.
Already, Corona has taken on Aquino on an issue where the incoming president is most vulnerable: agrarian reform in the Aquino Family-owned Hacienda Luisita.
Last week, the chief justice announced that a division of the court he himself heads will review the temporary restraining order issued against the enforcement of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in Hacienda Luisita.
Meanwhile, Aquino has refused to have Corona administer the oath the incoming president will take on his inauguration day on Wednesday. Instead, he has asked Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales to administer the oath.
At the PPI Civic Journalism Community Press Awards where Marquez was guest of honor and keynote speaker, the Supreme Court spokesperson said the court under Corona will upgrade the case management system, which will include decentralizing the functions of the court administrator.
Marquez also cited Corona’s achievements and long government service. Corona, he said, has long been a government functionary, having served in the office of former Executive Secretary Alejandro Melchor during the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos.
Marquez said it was also Corona who penned the decision declaring the $658 million ill-gotten wealth of the Marcoses government funds.