Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares on Tuesday said the post of Supreme Court chief justice is interesting "because of the judicial reforms," but admitted that she has yet to decide whether to accept her nomination or not.
“I have not made any decision neither here nor there. We’ll try to weight everything. If I [had made] the decision, then I can answer you readily that I will accept or decline the nomination but I have not really,” Henares told reporters while waiting for the start of the Vin d’Honneur in Malacañang.
Henares said she has yet to meet with President Benigno Aquino III to discuss the matter. Henares was nominated to the post Friday. She said there are “two forces pulling me equally.” For one, the BIR chief pointed out that her office is busy creating revenues to finance government projects. “Marami kaming ginagawa sa BIR. Hindi naman kami kakaumpisa lang pero hindi pa kami fully complete especially [since] there’s a need for reform,” she said.
“You cannot do reform if you don’t have money so it’s very important with the Bureau of Internal Revenue to generate the revenues kasi otherwise, wala namang gagastusin yung bayan,” she added.
On the other hand, Henares said the attraction of the chief justice position “is the judicial reform aspect, the management of the courts, the administrative side, the institution of reforms.”
“If it’s because of the legal side of it, I don’t think I’ll be interested kung legal side lang yun – adjudicating, making decisions,” she said.
She said that she may not have handled any case but she had experienced the negative side of the judiciary. “I think I have more in the sense na for me, I experienced it and it’s important for me to do judicial reforms,” Henares said.
“What can be a better teacher than experiencing the judicial system yourself. I’ve experienced yung the complaint of people about the adjudication system, from arbitration in the National Labor Relations Commission, all the way to you’re fighting for your rights, you’re bumping against big establishments so I would say that I have an advantage over all the other people because I personally experienced all the system itself,” she explained.
Asked what he would reform in the system if ever she is chosen for the post, she said the judicial system should benefit everyone whether they are rich or poor.
“What we really want – a system that will redress what is wrong and correct things, it does not matter whether you’re rich or poor, whether you’re educated or not,” said Henares.Source: GMA News