Te quits as SC spokesperson

Te submitted his courtesy resignation to Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro. (PNA file photo)

MANILA — Lawyer Theodore Te on Monday confirmed that he will be stepping down from his post as Supreme Court (SC) Spokesperson and Public Information Office (PIO) chief.

Te submitted his courtesy resignation to Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro.

The new top magistrate, meanwhile, already accepted Te’s resignation.

Te’s designation is co-terminus with ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, his former colleague at the University of the Philippines College of Law.

However, his appointment was extended by Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and the two other chairpersons of the SC Divisions, including then Associate Justice and now Chief Justice De Castro, “until the appointment of the new Chief Justice.”

“May I also, by these presents, respectfully tender my irrevocable resignation as Assistant Court Administrator and Chief of the Public Information Office, a post which is highly confidential and coterminous with the Chief Justice. I believe that Your Honor should be given a free hand to craft your own media policies and to appoint a person whom Your Honor believes could best implement those policies,” Te said in his resignation letter dated August 29.

Te, whose resignation takes effect on Friday, is set to introduce lawyer Ma. Gleoresty Guerra, SC PIO deputy chief as acting SC PIO head in his last media briefing on Tuesday.

Guerra served as spokesperson of the High Court, in acting capacity, following the ouster of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Meanwhile, Te will return to full-time academic life, which he had put on hold starting 2013 to be able to serve the judiciary and the SC.

Earlier, Te posted on his Twitter account “I Dissent” last May 11, the day the High Court voted to oust Sereno.

Citizens’ Crime Watch (CCW) head lawyer Ferdinand Topacio urged Te to resign “out of delicadeza”, adding that he must step down first from his official function as a court official before expressing his own opinion on any High Court action or decision.

Te, who did not explicitly state whether his post was related to the SC decision, refused to comment on Topacio’s statement.