PANGLAO, Bohol – A done deal.

That was the reaction of Vice President Leni Robredo of the appointment of Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro as chief justice of the Supreme Court.

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“Yung appointment naman ni Chief Justice De Castro ano na yan done deal,” said Robredo.

(The appointment of Chief Justice De Castro was a done deal.)

President Duterte appointed De Castro as the new chief justice last week.

De Castro took her oath before the Supreme Court en banc at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

She is the first female Philippine chief justice, after ousted Maria Lourdes Sereno was found to be “de facto” officer who is ineligible to hold the same position “for lack of a constitutional qualification.”

De Castro, who replaced Sereno, has a term for only for two months.

Robredo wished De Castro would spend her time to fix the judiciary after it so far suffered the gravest consequences.

“Pero ang winiwish na lang natin na sa two months na pamalagi niya sa opisina sana magugol, una sa pag-strengthen ng institution dahil sa tingin natin masalimuot yung pinagdaanan ng Supreme Court dahil sa quo warranto case,” said Robredo.

(We just wish that the two months of her stay in office will be spent in strengthening the institution, that I think, went through complications because of the quo warranto case.)

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The Supreme Court, according to Robredo, needs to be fixed as it impacted the course of history.

“Marami kailangan i-repair. Sana yung pamamalagi niya sa office magamit yun sa pagrepair. Yun kasi ang paniniwala natin na very essential sa demokrasya ang matatag na Supreme Court. Kung ano man yung damage na nacause sa kanya dahil sa pinagdaanan niya sana maayos ngayon,” she said.

(So many things need to be repaired. I hope her stay in office will be used to repair. I believe that a stable Supreme Court is very essential in a democracy. Whatever damage was caused because of what she went through, I hope will be fixed.)

Robredo was in Lourdes High School in Panglao town on Thursday for the turn-over of utensils and equipment to senior high school students.

Lourdes High School has at least 700 senior students for “Turo-Turismo, a tourism-focused immersion program to prepare senior high school students for employment and entrepreneurship.

Robredo has appealed for a higher budget for her office as she lamented that almost P100 million was slashed from her office’s allocation. She said it would affect their livelihood subsidies for poor families in the country.

The House appropriations panel approved on Wednesday the proposed P447.6-million budget of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2019.

“Kahapun denifend ko yung budget. Binawasan kami ng almost P100 million. Malaking bagay sa amin kasi kakaunti lang budget namin, babawasan pa. Mahihirapan kami ipagkasya. Minentioned ko siya sa hearing kahapun,” she said.

(Yesterday I defended the budget. We were deducted almost P100 million. A big thing for us because our budget is already small, then it would further be reduced. It will be difficult for us to sustain it. I mentioned this during yesterday’s hearing.)

She said the Senate appropriated a higher budget last year, but she was willing to work even if she had a limited budget.

She hoped they’d “reconsider the budget.

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