Purisima's fate known today

The fate of beleaguered Supreme Court (SC) Justice Fidel Purisima will be known today when the tribunal resumes en banc deliberations on the request of two legal luminaries for a probe on the embarrassing incidents involving the 1999 Bar committee.

Fourteen justices will be deciding on whether to grant the request of former Senate President Jovito Salonga and former Justice Minister Sedfrey Ordoñez to look into the improprieties allegedly committed by Purisima, who is set to retire on Oct. 28 at age 70.

The letter-request was received by the SC last April 11 but the deliberations were shelved after the tribunal issued a resolution disqualifying Purisima's nephew, Mark Anthony Purisima, on the basis that he had forged a school document, and failed to submit a certification that he had taken a pre-Bar review course.

Officials of the Bantay Katarungan (Sentinel of Justice), who had sent the letter to Chief Justice Hilario Davide, said an independent investigation was imperative in order to spare the High Tribunal from further embarrassment.

"To clear the air and enable the public -- particularly the examiners and their families -- to distinguish between truth and falsehood, separate fact from fiction, and thereby know the whole truth, instead of piecemeal revelations of the truth, may we respectfully suggest that the committee under the leadership of former Justice Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera be authorized by the Court to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation," Salonga and Ordoñez stated in the letter.

The two said Herrera, head of the Philippine Judicial Academy, should come out with her findings and recommendations, and submit them to the SC, and later, to the general public.