PHNO-HL: MALACAÑANG WELCOMES EXTENSION OF CJ'S NOMINATION DEADLINE

MALACAÑANG WELCOMES EXTENSION OF
CJ'S NOMINATION DEADLINE
MANILA, JUNE 22, 2012 (TRIBUNE) Live coverage of interviews now allowed. Just who else are
President Aquino and the Judicial and Bar Council members waiting for, to cause
the JBC to extend the deadline for nominations to the post of chief justice for
two more weeks, despite 40 aspirants already nominated?
The deadline for nominating candidates for chief justice, which was supposed
to have ended yesterday, was extended until July 2 by the JBC.
Apparently, the JBC extended the deadline for nominations on the strength of
a letter from a hardly known lawyer, a certain Hans Santos, who had asked for
the JBC nomination deadline extension.

The reason given by Santos was
that the extension would provide the JBC a wider array of choices for the
post.

The list of aspirants, as of yesterday had already balooned to 40,
with another Aquino appointee, junior associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe,
nominated last Friday. Losing presidental candidate in 2010, Gilbert Teodoro was
also nominated yesterday.

[PHOTO -AQUINO
CABINET MEMBERS]
Malacañang welcomed the JBC move to extend its deadline by two
weeks.

In a press statement farmed out to the members of the Malacañang
Press Corps, the Office of the Presidential Spokesman depicted an administration
that sees it fit to have more choices from among whom the President might find
the most ideal person for the position of Supreme Court chief
justice.

But it is never the president, under the Constitution, who has a
say on nominees but the JBC. All the President's task is reduced to, is for him
to choose one candidate from a list of three to five submitted to him by the
JBC. It also is not the mandate of the JBC to extend the deadline the body
itself imposed merely to provide more chances for other persons to be nominated,
especially since the number of applicants have already zoomed to 40 and
counting—and on the so called request of an unrecognizable lawyer for an
extension, all of which developments have led to speculations that it was Aquino
who had directed the JBC to extend the deadline, possibly to have another
Malacañang-friendly aspirant included in the JBC to be submitted to
him.|

This is the first tme a large number of applicants to the top post
in the judiciary has occurred.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said
Malacañang would even be glad to see more qualified individuals vying for the
vacant post. He added that extending the period in which the JBC could accept
nomination may also be seen as a positive development in an institution
struggling to regain the respect it once had. Acceptance of nominations by JBC
was supposed to end yesterday.

"This is a time when restoring faith in
the judiciary and the courts is a cause that calls for the broadest
participation and the widest possible pool of candidates," Lacierda's statement
read.

Aquino who has earlier been giving "helpful hints" on who the next
Chief Justice could be, claimed in one instance that he is ready to break an old
tradition that saw Supreme Court insiders as consistently enjoying the leverage
and eventually taking the CJ post, even as he expressed openness to the
possibility of appointing a chief magistrate from outside the high tribunal.


To date the JBC, which administers the tedious process that requires its
panel to accept, screen, validate, review and prepare a short list of the five
nominees seen as the best choices from where Aquino could pick one to become the
new chief magistrate.

Published reports had Aquino "closing his doors" on
other possible choices even as the he appears keen on naming a new chief
magistrate who could either be Associate Justice Lourdes Sereno who comes from
"inside SC" and his latest appointee, Justice Bernabe and an outsider Bureau of
Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Jacinto Henares.

Lacierda added that
Malacañang welcomes JBC's decision to extend the period for accepting
nominations for the post of chief justice as it will give the public more time
to participate in the process. He went on to say that an extended period for
accepting nominations would enable other sectors, which include the civil
society and the academe to make a careful scrutiny of their nominees and their
chances of notching the top SC post.

"What is at stake at the end of this
exercise is for the JBC to present a list of meritorious nominees for the
consideration of the President. This should be a landmark moment in our
collective effort to achieve judicial reform. As the recent decision of the
Supreme Court (SC) indicates, a new era of transparency and accountability is
dawning in the judiciary," he added.
JBC ex-officio member Sen. Francis
"Chiz" Escudero said in a chance interview on Monday that the "long list" will
be released on July 7, five days after the new deadline for
nomination.

Teodoro, along with the incumbent Securities and Exchange
Commission chief, Teresita Herbosa and an incumbent Court of Appeals justice
Antonio Villamor were among the eight recommended to be the next chief justice
post, the JBC announced yesterday.

Also yesterday, the JBC received
recommendations for the nomination of former Executive Secretary and former San
Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, as well as lawyers Jose Renante Terre, Vicente
Velasquez, Rey Oliver Alejandrino, and Alexander Padilla.

The JBC also
yesterday decided to grant a request to allow live media coverage of the public
interviews of qualified candidates for the chief justice position.

The
JBC's regular meeting was presided by retired Supreme Court Associate Justice
Region Hermosisima Jr., after acting Chief Justice Associate Justice Antonio
Carpio inhibited from the deliberations .

Justice Secretary Leila de
Lima also recused from joining on the deliberations for the chief justice post
since she was also nominated for the post.

Escudero said the remaining
six members of the JBC unanimously approved the motion to allow live media
coverage of the public interviews of the applicants and nominees for the top
post in the judiciary.

Escudero said the panel also approved his motion
to extend until July 2 the deadline for application and nomination for the post
to give the JBC as well thr president more names to consider for Corona's
replacement.

Laywer Milagros Cayosa, the representative of the Integrated
Bar of the Philippines to the JBC, said the extension will also give the
nominees more time to decide whether they would accept or decline their
nominations and for the JBC to look into their qualifications.

Lawyer
Jose Mejia said the request for live coverage was made by the Transparency and
Accountability Network (TAN) headed by lawyer Vincent Lazatin.

"I think
there has always been a formal request but in the past it was not favorably
acted upon so now that it was reiterated then the body discussed it and the
decision is to allow live coverage and guidelines will be issued soon," Mejia
said.

Cayosa noted that the live media coverage would only cover the
public interviews and not yet the actual voting for the shortlist and other
deliberations of the JBC.

"We are still studying it (the proposal to
allow live media coverage of the voting). We will go one step at a time but at
this point we will just want to concentrate first on the panel interview and the
Execon was requested to look into the matter and we will send our
recommendations to the en banc," Cayosa added.

Meanwhile, a senator
described the live coverahe of the JBC interviews of applicants to the high post
a step in the right direction toward reforming the Judiciary.

Sen.
Francis Pangilinan yesterday said :"We've always said that if we want real
change, we must be willing to dare and do things differently We believe that
changing the process by which the court's leaders are selected may also change
the kind of leader that will emerge from this process.

"We congratulate
the JBC for choosing transparency in selecting the next Chief Justice. We
believe that this decision will lead to greater accountability and better
governance of our courts," he said.

In repeatedly pressing for the
amendment of the JBC rules to allow public access to the entire process of
selecting the country's next chief justice, Pangilinan said such move will
provide for greater accountability, utmost transparency, and good governance in
the Judiciary.

Initially, the JBC released a statement saying that it is
not inclined to adopt the proposal citing the said court ruling.
"We're not
doing this for ourselves or to make the process more cumbersome. We're doing
this for the common good—to remove the shroud of secrecy that has been hanging
over the Judiciary through the years, to show that the judicial branch is ready
for reform.

Panglinan added: "We saw in the impeachment trial how
decisions of the judiciary can affect the lives and livelihood of our people. We
have a lot at stake here, so it's important for the public to be equally aware
of and involved in selecting the next Chief Justice, as is the JBC." With Benjamin B. Pulta, Fernan J. Angeles and Angie M. Rosales



Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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