1. Ms. Estrella D. Eje, SC Chief Judicial Staff Officer, Budget Division, Fiscal Management and Budget Office – Model Employee in the Supervisory Level

When it comes to statistics and studies on the Court’s financial concerns, Ester is as reliable as a Casio calculator. Productive and analytical, she prepares the Supreme Court’s budget proposal as well as the consolidated budget proposal of the Judiciary. So dedicated is she that she has yet to avail of the compensatory time off she has had accumulated by voluntarily rendering overtime.

A holder of Masteral degree in Management from the Philippine Christian University, Ester  is a member of several Court committees. Her articulateness is an asset in explaining the position of the FMBO, the Court, and the Department of Budget and Management on financial issues, says her nominator Deputy Clerk of Court and FMBO Chief Atty. Corazon G. Ferrer-Flores.

She began her public career at the Court of Agrarian Relations in 1972. In 1982, she transferred to the Court. She was given the Outstanding SC Employee Centennial Award in 2001.

Active in civic and religious activities, Ester  is the secretary of Catholic Women’s League, psalmist and lector-commentator at the Sta Rita de Cascia Parish Church, member of the Cantor-Sarnelli Choir at the Our Mother of Perpetual Shrine, Baclaran and of the Divine Mercy Catholic Charismatic Community at the SC.

She is married to Luke, who works as Sheriff IV at the Regional Trial Court of Parañaque City. They are blessed with children Eymard, Lorelei, Edward Vincent, and Laiza.

2. Atty. Richard O. Pascual, Court Attorney V, Office of the Recruitment,  Nomination and Selection, Judicial and Bar Council – Model Employee in the Non-Supervisory Level

One of the Supreme Court’s eligible bachelors at 32, Richard is a staunch advocate of improved legal and operational functions of the JBC, thus ensuring transparency and accountability in the nomination process of the JBC, says his nominator JBC Executive Officer Atty. Annaliza T. Capacite.

Richard is responsible in drafting documentation reports for various JBC projects and reform activities. He has helped in the preparation of the JBC’s personnel job description and human resource application documents, draft work flowchart, draft compliance report on the submission of application documents, INDRA Formulation of the Judiciary-wide ICT Development and Integrated Framework Review.

He also designed and developed, with the help of the Management Information Systems Office, the JBC Website. A lawyer, computer troubleshooter, applications user, and program facilitator rolled into one, Richard even works overtime and during weekends when needed.

Richard joined the SC in November 2001 as Clerk II, a position he held until August 2005 at the MISO. A 2004 alumnus of the Lyceum of the Philippines, he became Court Attorney IV at the Office of Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. from August 2005 until latter’s retirement in December of the same year. He later moved to the Office of the Reporter as Court Attorney II. In August last year, he moved to the JBC under the Office of Justice Regino C. Hermosisima, Jr. as Court Attorney V detailed in the Office of Recruitment, Selection, and Nomination.

Richard is a member of the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties and the National Union of People’s Lawyers. He is a co-author of the Precepts of the Heart-Selected Speeches of Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr., and the Davidic Heritage of Wisdom and Justice-Selected Ponencias and Opinions of Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. 

3. Atty. Gorgonio B. Elarmo, Jr., Judicial Staff Head, Office of Justice Renato C. Corona – Communication Excellence Awardee

Jon shares his legal knowledge outside the Court by teaching at the Colleges of Law of the Lyceum of the Philippines, the Adamson University, and the Philippine Christian University. He also contributes law-related articles to legal journals. He has written on taxation (tax exemption of non-profit firms and educational institutions; local franchise tax), civil law (accretion) and legal ethics (payment of membership dues in the Integrated Bar of the Philippines as a condition for good standing in the legal profession). Atty. Elarmo has also been invited as speaker in several seminars.

As the most senior lawyer in the office, Jon motivates and inspires his colleagues by giving his best in everything he does, said nominator Justice Renato C. Corona. He efficiently performs his duties as a supervisor of both the administrative and legal business at the Office of Justice Corona. He is never late nor absent from work.

He is the secretary of the SC Committee on the Oversight of the Integrated Bar of the Phlippines, member of the Technical Working Group on the Manual on Judicial Writing of the SC, and also member of the Task Force on Inventory of Pending Cases.

A 2000 alumnus at the University of the Philippines College of Law where he ranked 10th in his class, Jon joined the Office of Justice Corona as Court Attorney IV in 2004, the year he left Sycip GorrresVelayo & Co., where he had worked for three years. Between 2000 and 2001, he went into private practice under two other law firms.

Jon’s interests include poetry- and essay-writing, and playing football, soccer, and table tennis. He is married to Atty. Leilani B. Elarmo, a former law clerk of Justice Vicente V. Mendoza. They are blessed with a daughter Lilia Beatrice.

4. Mr. Efren R. Jarlos, Chief Judicial Staff Officer, Office of the Clerk of Court – Leadership Awardee

“Mr. Jarlos has exemplified himself as leader in the true sense of the word. He can motivate his people to work and act immediately on their duties by giving them specific instructions with the authority of someone well-informed on the matter. But behind the booming voice and stance of authority is a soft heart. The people who have worked with him could attest to his genuine concern for their welfare. He sees to it that work is done and that confidentiality requirement is observed to the fullest but without losing that sense of camaraderie for everyone,” writes his nominator Atty. Jesusa Jean D. Reyes, Court Attorney VI, OCC En Banc.

His 43rd year in government service is marked by yet another PRAISE recognition, the service award.

Mr. Jarlos began his government service in 1965 as public school elementary teacher (district coordinator). In 1970, he joined the Supreme Court as legal bibliographer and later as officer-in-charge of its Process Serving Section where he was assigned as head in 1974. He was Chief of Security Forces of the SC from 1974 to 1976.

From 1976 to 1978, he was personnel supervisor at the Mailing Section of the Office of Administrative Services of the SC, a post he had handled concurrently as head of the Process Serving Section from 1976 to 1980. In the same year, he was promoted to Assistant Chief of Section and Concurrently Officer-In-Charge of the Process Serving Section. In 1981, he became Assistant Chief of Division and concurrently Personnel Officer-in-Charge of the same section. In 1990, he was Records Officer V Chief of Division, Records Division of the Office of the Clerk of Court En Banc. He was promoted to his current post in March 2000.

A native of Batangas City, Mr. Jarlos has received medals for service awards as well as for exemplary service for the cause of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP). He was former liaison officer of the NISA in Quezon City, former chairman of the Leadership Training Committee, BSP, and former scoutmaster while serving as an intermediate teacher.

He is married to Mindoriña Dilay-Jarlos and they have six children: Meneo Elvin, Mayreen, Eric, Edward, Errol, and Percival Elmor.

5. Mr. Hernani P. Molines, Accounting Clerk III, Accounting Division – Innovation Awardee

Tatay Nani, 64, has introduced innovations of methods that have contributed complete and accurate reporting of the reconciliation accounts. “Even with his advanced age, he exerts efforts in coping with the latest technology most especially when it is related to his work,” says nominator Lilianne E. Ulgado, Chief Accountant, FMBO-Accounting Section.

He began government service in 1991 as Executive Assistant I. In 1993, he became Accounting Clerk III, and was promoted to his present post in a year’s time.

Born in Guinayangan, Quezon, Tatay Nani studied at the College of Business Administration at the University of Manila. He is married to Violeta Molines (nee Cruz) and they have four children – Salvador, Veronica, Percival, and Lorena.

6. Mr. Pedro A. Malig-on, Utility Worker II, Judicial and Bar Council – Commitment to Service Awardee

Atty. Ma. Theresa Magturo, Chief of Office, Office of Recruitment, Selection and Nomination, JBC, nominator, says Mr. Malig-on starts his work at 7 a.m., if not earlier. She adds, “The very first person who will accommodate and assist any applicant or guest of the JBC, he accomplishes a myriad of functions in a given day: receives applications and documents as well as office communications; ascertain whether new applications comply with application checklist requirements; retrieves the personal data sheet (PDS) and other documents of applicants scheduled, handles the registration of applicants, and monitors compliance with psychological and psychiatric evaluation and personal interview procedures; provides information and advice to applicants in the completion of their requirements as well as vacancy notices among other jobs.

“To sum up, an applicant does not leave the JBC Secretariat without being fully informed and guided by the thorough, diligent, and conscientious assistance of Mang Pete (as he is fondly called).”

Now 57, Mang Pete began serving the Court as Court Aide I in 1985, during the incumbency of SC Justice Nestor B. Alumpay. He was promoted to Court Messenger I on the same year. In 1988, he was re-employed at the SC as a Utility Man, as position he served for a year. In 1990, he was again employed by the SC as Utility Worker II. In 1993, he became a messenger, a position he holds up to the present.

A native of Gotozon town in Loboc, Bohol, Mang Pete is married to Marcela Malig-on (nee Esguerra) and they have two children: Mercelie and Peter. (with reports from Maribeth C. Cruz)