FACT CHECK: There is no clear evidence that SC Justice De Castro "dissed" Sereno in speech before new lawyers Friday


The title of the "report" read "De Castro disses Sereno, quo warranto oppositors" and the caption of the photo that accompanied the article describes the speech as one where she "rebuked ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno."

But nowhere in any of the snippets quoted in the Rappler article from the speech Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro delivered before 1,724 new lawyers at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) last Friday did De Castro categorically identify never-had-been-chief-justice Lourdes Sereno as the subject of any part of her speech.

Nonetheless, Rapplerette Lian Buan gave herself lots of room in her report to conjecture...

It was a 25-minute speech full of scathing references to Sereno and prominent lawyers who criticized the majority decision,  some of whom were inside the PICC in different capacities.

From an objective perspective, however, much of what De Castro said are general truisms that could apply to anyone or any situation and are, in fact, very relevant pieces of advise to young professionals...

“You will encounter people who might be promoted ahead of you because of a carefully cultivated, glittering persona and a talent for self-promotion and credit grabbing, instead of substantial accomplishment,” De Castro said.

And...

“You will see it many times in your career that those who rise too fast often fall just as quickly. As Justice Francis [Jardeleza] said earlier, the arrogance will always have a comeuppance. My wish is that none of you will fall prey to that kind of hubris.”

It seems Rapplerettes like Buan are just too keen to overstep their role as reporters of facts and are wont to insert their personal slant into what they'd like their readers to pass off as "journalism". These Rapplerettes fail the marshmallow test consistently and, as a result, fail as credible journalists.

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