High Court reopens Judiciary Memorabilia Hall

By Rey E. Requejo

AFTER more than three years of being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Court has reopened its Judiciary Memorabilia Hall that “houses keepsakes and collections of bodies of work of its former magistrates.”

Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, who led the reopening of the hall, said the life and works of retired Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta, the 26th head of the country’s judiciary, will be featured for six months until September.

The Judiciary Memorabilia Hall, located on the third floor of the SC’s old building in Ermita, Manila, opened its doors to the public again on March 27, 2023, Peralta’s 71st birth anniversary.

“The Judiciary Memorabilia Hall was created to honor and keep alive the memories of our past honorable magistrates as well as to commemorate and preserve the rich history of the Philippine Judiciary,” said Joyce Jazmin G. Dimaisip- aking before court officials and guests as honoree, Peralta recalled his early beginnings as a fledgling lawyer, then as a prosecutor in his hometown of Laoag, Ilocos Norte, before making the tough decision of taking a step down in his career to move to Manila.

Cunanan, acting SC senior chief staff officer of the Library Services and curator of the Judiciary Memorabilia Hall.

“The Hall was closed during the pandemic. However, due to the continuous improvement of the public health situation in the country, the Court, led by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo has decided to open [it] to the public,” Cunanan added.

Peralta retired on March 27, 2021 or one year ahead of his compulsory retirement at the age of 70 on March 27, 2022.

He was appointed chief justice on Oct. 23, 2019 by former President Rodrigo Duterte.

He took over the post from retired Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin, now Executive Secretary of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Before his promotion, Peralta was the head of the SC’s third division, head of the House of Representatives Electoral

Tribunal (HRET), and chairman of the SC’s committee on the revision of rules.

As Chief Justice, Peralta was the chairman of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) and head of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). He was with the judiciary for almost 27 years. He worked for the government for more than 34 years. He started as a judge of the regional trial court (RTC) in Quezon City in 1994. As a trial court judge, his court was designated a special criminal court for heinous crimes and, later, for drug cases. In 2002, he was promoted to the Sandiganbayan. After six years in the anti-graft court, he was promoted as its presiding justice in 2008. On Jan. 23, 2009, Peralta was named SC associate justice, a post he held until his promotion as chief justice in 2019. SC Justice Jose Midas P. Marquez recounted that “when he (Peralta) became Chief Justice, he chose to ‘lead by example’ with his own prudent ways and worked in coordination (with various offices), motivating the Court with his highly interactive leadership and his vision for judicial excellence.” communities is left unimpaired, we won’t get in the way of the proposed combination of the two banks,” he added.

Libanan is also counting on Land Bank to continue servicing the borrowing requirements of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the provinces.

Land Bank’s mission to promote countryside development has become absolutely imperative, Libanan said, considering that many private rural banks have collapsed over the years.

Since 2012, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has ordered the closure and liquidation of 123 troubled private rural banks across the country, based on

Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) records.

The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants to merge Land Bank with DBP, with the former as the surviving entity, in a bid to achieve operating efficiencies and cost reductions. The union of the two state-owned lenders would create the nation’s largest bank with P4.18 trillion in assets, according to Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno. Land Bank, which acts as the official depository of government funds, has 752 branches, 2,810 ATMs and over 10,000 employees. DBP has 147 branches, 836 ATMs and over 3,600 employees.