Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has been chosen as one of the “voices” to speak at a global conference on transparency and anti-corruption to be held in Dubai in November.
The Supreme Court Public Information said in a statement that the annual Summit on the Global Agenda Council on Transparency and Anti-Corruption of the World Economic Forum (WEF) is the world’s largest brainstorming of members of the Network Global Agenda Councils.
The WEF nominated Sereno to become one of the summit’s “voices” following her keynote speech aptly titled “Exacting Public Accountability and the Potential for Economic Growth” delivered before the East Asia Summit of the WEF in Manila in May 2014.
“This speech… prompted (the WEF Partnering Against Corruption Initiative) to nominate (Chief Justice Sereno) to be a voice on the Global Agenda Council,” said Gretchen Jonker, Associate Director of the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative.
In that keynote speech, Sereno discussed issues that matter to investors, particularly the stability of the investment policy framework and the length of judicial processes.
She said the judiciary has started to intensify its attention on stabilizing jurisprudence, including that affecting the way business is to be conducted.
“Because the Constitution requires such a careful balancing of interests of the Filipinos, especially the underprivileged, of preservation of a healthful ecology, of the interests of posterity, policy-making in this country must go beyond the traditional confines of governance, and must ask questions on environmental sustainability, on the long-term health of the people, and of the future of the majority,” she had said in her speech in May.
Sereno also discussed the judiciary’s efforts to address the problem of delay in judicial processes, specifically the use of judicial affidavits in place of the taking of direct testimony, and the newly-promulgated Rules on Financial Rehabilitation.
Sereno added that the use of judicial affidavits has already cut evidence-presentation time by half in the trial courts, while the new Rules are intended to expedite decisions on whether an enterprise is to be rehabilitated or liquidated, and giving time-bound allowances for the enterprise’s second life.
The annual Summit on the Global Agenda gathers globally recognized expert communities “to provide interdisciplinary thinking, stimulate dialogue, shape agendas and catalyse initiatives.”
The Network of Global Agenda Councils is a community of over 1,500 premier thought leaders who are the foremost experts in their fields of academia, business, government, international organizations and society.
The WEF said its councils “are committed to addressing the most pressing issues and opportunities of our time and aim to provide new thinking and solutions.” — Mark Merueñas/JDS, GMA News
