CHIEF Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, we reported on page 1 yesterday, is still pushing for the decentralization of the Office of the Court Administrator, despite being rebuffed earlier by the Supreme Court en banc.

Is this zeal to open an Assistant Court Administrator’s Office in the Visayas really just a move to clip the powers of Court Administrator Jose Midas-Marquez?

These questions surfaced after the high court had set a condition on the appointment of Assistant Court Administrator Jennilyn Dolorino as deputy court administrator.

Dolorino took her oath last week before Sereno. Dolorino got 10 votes from the court justices, while second placer Assistant Court Administrator Thelma Bahia only got five justice to vote for her.

A condition to Dolorino’s appointment in the court en banc resolution dated January 8, 2013 states that upon accepting the position of deputy court administrator (DCA), she must be willing to be assigned to work in the regions, particularly in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Sources told The Times that this was an indication that the chief justice was still bent on pushing for the decentralization of the Court Administrator’s Office in order to make Marquez less able to function with his original powers.

The administrator’s office manages all the judges and justices nationwide.

Internationally and here in the Philippines, too, a court administrator handles the managerial duties of a court system, such as balancing budgets, paying employees, and ensuring that proceedings run smoothly. He or she analyzes legal procedures to make sure that all employees of the judiciary are performing their jobs well and with probity. Administrators attempt to organize records and manage case flow so that trials and other important court activities do not fall behind schedule.

The court administrator decides how to reduce costs while increasing efficiency. Aided by accountants, the administrator maintains careful financial records in order to balance budgets and allocate funds to different departments. He or she analyzes the costs of legal proceedings and determines where money can be saved. When financial setbacks become an issue, the administrator might recommend new programs or procedures that will allow improve the efficiency of court operations.

A court administrator also supervises the flow of cases. Most Philippine courts utilize computers to keep accurate electronic records of previous and pending trials. The administrator organizes and keeps track of such information to ensure that criminal and civil cases can proceed seamlessly. He or she helps prevent the court system from becoming bogged down and falling behind schedule. The administrator regularly inputs and processes new information to keep records up-to-date.

With such responsibilities, albeit originally possessed by the chief justices but delegated by rules to the court administrator, the holder of this office has considerable power.

According to Chief Justice Sereno’s critics, she has always disliked Midas Marquez because he functioned as a close assistant to impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was targeted for removal by President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd with the active cooperation of then Associate Justice Sereno and others. That is why she even dared create a fake resolution purported to have been approved the entire Supreme Court to create a Visayas branch of the Court administrators office. In that way, with her own appointed occupying the position in Cebu, Marquez would be estopped from performing his job of administering the courts in the Visayas and possible also Mindanao.

Chief Justice Sereno’s associate justices in the High Court, however, resented—and correctly disapproved of— what she did. In an en banc the High Court revoked the fraudulent resolution creating the so-called Regional Court Administration Office in Cebu, which would have clipped the powers of Marquez.

Supreme Court justices therefore made null-and-void the illegal November 27 resolution that CJ Sereno issued. They disclaimed having ratified the resolution and undid CJ Sereno’s appointment of Judge Geraldine Faith Econg to be the officer-in-charge of that spurious regional court administrator’s office.