SC’s Te returns to teaching

MANILA — Lawyer Theodore Te will return to the academe after a five-year stint as the Supreme Court spokesperson.

Te tendered his courtesy resignation on August 29, but a copy of his letter was given to reporters only on Monday, September 3.

The SC spokesperson said: “I am returning to full-time academic life, which I had put on hold starting 2013 to be able to serve the judiciary and the Supreme Court.”

“I respectfully believe that I would be of greater value to the judiciary and the Court in the academic world at this time,” he added.

Te’s stint as SC spokesperson is co-terminous with that of former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno but he stayed on in a holdover capacity until a new chief justice was named.

Te was a professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law for more than 16 years, before assuming his post at the SC.

He has also served as one of the lawyers of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), which is the oldest group of human rights lawyers in the Philippines.

Te said that Chief Justice Teresita De Castro has already accepted his resignation.

“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,” his letter to the chief justice read.

In a message to reporters, Te said that lawyer Maria Victoria Gleoresty Guerra will serve as the acting chief of the PIO.

Guerra is the deputy chief of the SC PIO.

She was the SC’s spokesperson before Te’s appointment in 2013.