MANILA - A group of concerned Sandiganbayan employees have accused Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang of "favoritism" and of running the court like ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Judicial and Bar Council member Atty. Milagros Fernan-Cayosa informed Cabotaje-Tang of the letter-complaint on Wednesday during the JBC's public panel interview of applicants vying for the Supreme Court associate justice post to replace Justice Noel Tijam.

Tijam is set to retire in January 2019.

According to Cayosa, the letter-complaint accused Cabotaje-Tang of playing favorites when she gave a retirement party to a retiring clerk-of-court. The letter, addressed to the JBC, was dated March 5, 2018, long before she applied for the SC post.

Cabotaje-Tang denied playing favorites, saying the decision to hold a retirement party was not hers alone but that of a committee.

"[S]ince it was the executive clerk of court IV who was retiring, the committee which I chaired decided to tender a retirement party for him. Given the length of time that he has served the court, I think more than 25 or 30 years, the committee felt that it was a tribute, owing to the retiring employee," she said.

"We actually have rules on retirement, rules regarding hosting of parties regarding retiring employees," she added.

Another JBC member, retired Judge Toribio Ilao, Jr., read a portion of the complaint: "Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotage-Tang who runs the affairs of the anti-graft court like her idol Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno."

Sereno had been accused of not seeking the consent of her colleagues in making various decisions.

But the SB presiding justice rejected the allegation.

"I doubt whether this letter really came from the employees of the Sandiganbayan, because no less than the Sandiganbayan Employees' Association (SEA) came up with the disclaimer, which I attached to my comment repudiating and disowning this letter, your honor," she said.

She also revealed that a similar complaint, also dated March 5, 2018, had reached the SC and had been dismissed after she filed her comment.

Among the acts attributed to Cabotaje-Tang: causing the painting of the SB building, hiring blue guards, and ignoring the reimbursement of expenses in the retirement ceremony of a justice, all allegedly without authority of the court en banc.

In a resolution dated July 17, 2018, a copy of which Cabotaje-Tang furnished the media on Wednesday, the SC dismissed the letter-complaint for being unverified and for having no supporting documents.

The Court also doubted the identity of the purported complainant, citing a letter from SEA denying the complaint came from them and that a certain Rudy Antonio, the alleged sender of the complaint, is a member of the group.

Cabotaje-Tang, who is one of 19 candidates for the SC associate justice post, did not discount the possibility of having disgruntled personnel within her court.

"Maybe there are some or one disgruntled person in the court. But as they say, you cannot please everyone," she said.