CHIEF Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno is still pushing for the decentralization of the Office of the Court Administrator, despite being rebuffed earlier by the Supreme Court en banc in her moves to clip the powers of Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez.

This 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 notched five votes only.

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

Sources said that this showed Sereno was still bent on pushing for the decentralization of the court administrator office in order to paralyze Marquez. The administrative office is the one manning all the judges and justices nationwide.

Earlier, the court en banc revoked her fake and fraudulent resolution creating the Regional Court Administration Office in Cebu, which would have clipped the powers of Marquez. The November 27 resolution issued by Sereno on the “ratification” by the High Tribunal en banc of the creation of regional court and appointment of Judge Geraldine Faith Econg to be the officer-in-charge of the said office turned out to be false and without authority from the justices.

Court sources said that Sereno does not like Marquez, being an ally of former chief justice Renato Corona.

“After a careful assessment and evaluation of the applicants to the position of deputy court administrator, the court resolved to appoint Assistant Court Administrator Jennilynd Aldecoa-Dolorino as deputy court administrator, former DCA Nimfa Vilches on the condition that she confirms in writing her willingness to be posted to Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao after DCA Raul Villanueva has made the first choice of assignment from the said island groups,” the court resolution avers.

Dolorino immediately accepted the said condition in writing. “I hereby confirm my willingness to be posted in Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao after DCA Raul Villanueva shall have made his choice of assignment from among the island groups.”

Dolorino, of Dumaguete City, is the daughter of retired appellate court justice Venancio Aldecoa Jr.
She is an alumna of Silliman University, where she graduated magna cum laude with degrees in Arts major in Political Science and Southeast Asian Studies and cum laude in Law.    

Delorino joined the judiciary in 1986 as a private secretary in the Appeals court. In 1989, after passing the Bar, she worked as court lawyer until 1997. In 2000, she joined the Supreme Court as court lawyer in the office of retired associate justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago. In April 2012, she was appointed as presiding judge of the regional trial court in Dumaguete City and later in Makati City, where she also served as vice executive judge. She presided over a court of general jurisdiction, a Heinous Crimes court, a Drugs court, and a Commercial court, sometimes simultaneously over a span of eight years.

On January 12, 2010, she was appointed to the High Court as assistant court administrator, replacing Jesus Edwin Villasor, who was promoted to deputy court administrator on October 27, 2009.