Controversial justice retires sans fanfare

Almost a year after the Supreme Court reprimanded him for failing to disclose that a nephew took the Bar examination, Justice Fidel Purisima will be stepping down. He will be reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 tomorrow.

Tribunal insiders said Purisima had requested that the ceremony for his retirement be made simple, and that he not be given the traditional valedictory decision–a first in the judiciary’s history–to avoid media attention.

Earlier, Purisima wrote in Benchmark, the Tribunal’s bi-monthly publication: "I approach retirement with mixed and ambivalent feelings. I start this new journey with optimism that the best is yet to come, an expectation that life has more wonderful things in store. Nonetheless, with a feeling of sadness, realizing that an important chapter of my life has been brought to a close."

As chairman of last year’s Bar Examinations Committee, Purisima was said to have acted irregularly when he failed to inform the Tribunal that a nephew had taken the examinations.

The Tribunal stripped Purisima of half of his P500,000 fee as examinations committee chairman to punish him for his indiscretion.

Purisima was investigated by a three-member committee composed of retired Supreme Court Justice Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera as head and former Justices Camilo Quiason and Jose Feria as members.

Apart from the Bar scandal, Purisima also admitted to his colleagues that he "leaked" to Ombudsman Aniano Desierto the results of the Tribunal’s vote in November last year on the cases of the "behest loans" of Marcos cronies.

Purisima was also reported to have signed a draft decision of the Tribunal on a National Telecommunications Commission case, which later "found its way" to the offices of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.

In addition, observers also talked about Purisima’s alleged "insistence to fast-track" and handle the jai alai case which remains pending in the Supreme Court until now.

Purisima was also said to have "flip-flopped" in voting on the land dispute over a 99-hectare undeveloped property in Las Pinas City, which the Tribunal’s third division– of which Purisima was a member– to private individuals Lorenzo Gana and Juliano Carlos.

Purisima, who comes from San Ildefonso in Ilocos Sur, finished Law at the Far Eastern University in Manila in 1953 and passed the Bar examinations with a grade of 90 percent in the same year.

Purisima was a member of the Sandiganbayan from 1982 to 1984 before becoming a justice of the Court Appeals from 1994 to 1998.

Purisima was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Ramos in January 1998.