The Supreme Court (SC) paid tribute to retired Senior Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas Bernabe with the creation of an award – the “Senior Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas Bernabe Exemplary Career Jurist Award.”
Justice Bernabe retired last May 14 after serving the judiciary for 26 years.
In 1996 she was appointed judge of the metropolitan trial court in Makati City. In 2000, she was promoted regional trial court judge. In 2004, she was named Court of Appeals associate justice until her SC promotion in 2011.
The creation of the award was announced by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo during Justice Bernabe’s retirement ceremony at the SC last May 13.
Gesmundo said the award “is the first of its kind in the history of the Philippine Judiciary.”
“This award shall be henceforth conferred only to the distinct set of Justices of the Supreme Court who have served the Judiciary in all court levels, particularly from a trial court, a lower collegiate court, and finally, up to the Supreme Court, and have achieved a zero-backlog or zero docket upon every promotion to the next level court, until their retirement from the Supreme Court, as what Justice Estela M. Perlas Bernabe exceptionally accomplished during the course of her 26-year judicial career,” the Chief Justice said.
He said that by conferring the award, “the Court hopes that future career jurists will aspire to receive this honor upon their own retirement, and traverse the same path of unwavering dedication to judicial service Justice Estela M. Perlas Bernabe paved for them.”
“If the fullness of one’s life is measured by how much one has emptied himself or herself to others, then, it is indisputable that at this moment, Senior Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas Bernabe has already lived a full life,” he also said.
Aside from Gesmundo, the 13 other SC justices paid tribute to Justice Bernabe who was also given the traditional tokens.
The tokens include the Philippine flag, the Supreme Court flag, commemorative pin, seal, brass shingle, judicial robe, gavel, Statuette of Judicial Excellence, and The Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos Award.
Bernabe also received from her colleagues the Judicial Medal of Distinction. The medal “is especially awarded to retiring Justices of the Supreme Court who excelled in the quintessential duty of efficient case disposition, particularly by leaving no case in her docket, or no case pending for resolution upon her retirement from the Court.”
Justice Bernabe finished her pre-law at the St. Paul College in Manila, magna cum laude, in 1972. She passed in the bar in 1976 after finishing her law degree as salutatorian at the Ateneo College of Law.
Immediately after passing the bar exams, she joined the judiciary as technical assistant in the office of then Justice Lorenzo Relova. She then engaged in private legal practice from 1978 to 1993. She later became a senior partner in Bernabe Perlas Morte & Associates law offices from 1993 to 1996.
The SC’s website states that Justice Bernabe has been teaching Practice Court and Evidence at the Ateneo College of Law since 2009. Among her many awards are the CA Award for Exemplary Performance, CA Award of Recognition for Outstanding Performance in Case Disposition;
Best Written Decision-Municipal/Metropolitan Trial Court from the Philippine Women Judges Association (PWJA); Natatanging Babaeng Hukom-Municipality of Plaridel, Bulacan; and Gawad Parangal 2008 as Outstanding Alumna for Dedicated Service to Country and People-St. Paul University Manila; and Huwaran Anak ng Bulakan and Gat Marcelo H. del Pilar Awards in 2011.