Men & Women in Government
(5th of A Series)
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RTC Judge LELU P. CONTRERAS
A CPA-lawyer, she finished her BSC Magna Cum Laude and her LLB Magna Cum Laude |
For two successive weeks each month she presides at Regional Trial Court Branch 43 in Virac, Catanduanes, her regular assignment. The next two weeks she is at RTC Branch 34 in Iriga City in Camarines Sur, making her perhaps the only RTC judge in the country holding court in two provinces. From Iriga City road travel is more than an hour to Tabaco City in Albay from where she takes the ferry boat and tosses for some four hours in the open Pacific Ocean until she reaches Virac.
But the strenuous assignment has not at all fazed 54-year old RTC Judge Lelu Prima Contreras. In fact, at presstime she was bound for Cebu City as lecturer in a seminar for 46 newly-appointed clerks of court from all over the country. Obviously, because she loves her work and productivity being paramount in her goal, long hours of travel have become part of the orientation she relishes.
Handling that seminar is like putting duck to water for Judge Contreras. She was clerk of court from 1994 in Buhi, Libmanan and in Iriga City, all in Camarines Sur, until she was appointed RTC Judge at RTC Branch 43 in Virac on March 15, 2006.
Concededly an intellectual gem and a valuable asset in the judiciary, Judge Contreras is a CPA – Lawyer who finished first her BSC at the University of Nueva Caceres in Naga City in 1974 Magna Cum Laude and her Bachelor of Laws at the Universtiy of Northeastern Philippines in Iriga City also Magna Cum Laude in 1993. A first prize winner in extemporaneous speaking contest at the Bicol PRISAA meet in 1970, Judge Contreras was valedictorian of the UNC High School Class 1969. From 1969 to 1970 she was an exchange student at the Vista High School in Vista, California, USA under the American Field Service International Scholarship.
Outspoken and articulate, she has always been in the vortex of issues of local and national concerns, a firm believer as she is in the doctrine that active involvement of every citizen in matters affecting their welfare is a precondition for socio-economic and political growth.
Her being a productive and dedicated government worker accounts for a number of professional awards and distinctions she has garnered thus far.
On September 19, 2003 she was conferred the Award for Judicial Excellence as outstanding Clerk of Court by the Supreme Court and the Foundation for Judicial Excellence. On June 6, 2001 she received the Centennial Court Employee Award during the Supreme Court Centennial celebration. From October 25 to December 18, 1999 she was the National Leader of the 26th Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program and from 2000 to 2002 she was national president of the RTC Clerks of Court Association of the Philippines.
Her inherent talent is amply complemented by trainings, seminars and scholarship grants, among the most notable of which were the fellowship grant-research on Mediation and Compromise Proceedings in Japan conducted by the Japan Foundation on July 1 to October 31, 2005 and the Court and Case Flow Management on June 3 to 21, 2002 conducted by the Ministry of Justice of Japan, both in Japan.
Among recent trainings she attended were the seminars on Election Laws for Judges and Clerks of Courts, Judicial Career Enhancement Seminar, (Level 4), 11th Regional Judicial Career Enhancement Seminar, 12th Regional Judicial Enhancement Seminar, Colloquium on Drug Abuse and Institute of Law of Jurisprudence.
A distinctive writer aside from being an eloquent speaker, Judge Contreras has to her credit several valuable publications. She is author of a Handbook on Selected SC Rulings on Administrative Cases Involving Court Personnel and Other Related Matters, another Handbook on SC Rulings on Cases Involving Judges and Other Related Matters, The Effectiveness of Mediation and Compromise Proceeding in Japan and their Applicability to Philippine Judicial System, and A Comparative Study of the Judicial System of Japan and the Philippines. She is also co-author of Delegation Report on the Case Flow Management Training in Japan, Handbook on Case Flow Management for Pilot Testing in the Courts of Pasay City and the 2002 Revised Manual for Clerks of Court. Added to these she has produced brochures on Criminal and Civil Cases which were reprinted by the Public Information Office of the Supreme Court and flowcharts on Rule on Juveniles in Conflict with the Law, Rule on Legal Separation, Rule on Declaration of Nullity and Annulment of Marriage and Dangerous Drugs Act.
A native of Buhi, Camarines Sur she is the daughter of Atty. Benjamin E. Contreras and Januaria Prima Contreras. She has three children from a failed marriage: Ma. Larissa Lelu, 33, a professor at UP at Los Baños College of Forestry who is presently pursuing her doctoral studies at the University of Florida; Rudyard, 30, an instructor at the Ateneo de Naga University on Digital Illustrated Animation; and Joselle Anne Marie, 21, a BS in Psychology graduate.
