PHNO-HL: SC URGED TO STOP SEARCH FOR NEXT CJ / JBC: WE'LL BE MORE DISCERNING

SC URGED TO STOP SEARCH FOR NEXT CJ / JBC: WE'LL
BE MORE DISCERNING
[PHOTO -
Francisco Chavez. INQUIRER FILE
PHOTO]
MANILA, JULY 6, 2012 (INQUIRER) By
Marlon Ramos - The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Judicial and Bar
Council (JBC) to comment on the petition by former Solicitor General Francisco
Chavez seeking to stop the search for the next Chief Justice.
In an en banc resolution, the court gave the JBC until July 11 to reply to
Chavez's petition, which urged the court to issue a temporary restraining order
to prohibit the council from conducting the selection process for the
replacement of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona.
The court also ordered Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., Senator Francis
Escudero and the Office of the Solicitor General to submit their own comments.

Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco
Jr., Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion, Roberto Abad and Ma. Lourdes
Sereno inhibited themselves from the deliberations because they had accepted
their nomination to the Chief Justice post.
In his petition, Chavez said the JBC's practice of allowing a senator and a
congressman to sit in the council at the same time was "patently
unconstitutional" and an "antipodean departure" from the constitutional
provision on its composition.
Valid concern
Lawyer Jose Mejia, a regular JBC member who represents the academe, welcomed
Chavez's move.
"It might be for the benefit of everybody to clarify that once and for all. I
think it's a valid concern," Mejia said over the phone. "We, in the JBC, just
follow what the existing rules are and what our practice is. Now that Chavez
brought that up to the Supreme Court, maybe it will clear the air with respect
to that issue."
He said the JBC was set to release the long list of nominees on July 9.
Individuals who want to file their opposition to the nomination of any of the
aspirants may submit their letter to the JBC until July 19.
Mejia said the JBC would exclude the names of nurse Jocelyn Esquivel and
dismissed Malabon Regional Trial Court Judge Florentino Floro from the list for
their failure to meet the minimum requirements set by the Constitution for
members of the bench.
He said 24 of the 71 nominees had confirmed their intention to join the
screening process.
FROM PHILSTAR
JBC to start CJ interviews on July 24 By Edu Punay
(The Philippine Star) Updated July 05, 2012 12:00 AMComments (4)

MANILA, Philippines - Members of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) vowed
yesterday to be discerning in screening the 24 candidates for chief justice,
especially when oral interviews start on July 24.
Lawyer Jose Mejia, a regular member of the JBC representing academe, said
they will meet tomorrow to finalize the schedule of the mandatory public
interview of the aspirants to be published in newspapers.
The interviews, in which each candidate will face JBC members to answer
questions on their qualifications, would run for four days, he added.
Mejia said their questions will be based on comments from the public – either
in favor or against any candidate – that the JBC will receive starting July 10.

"Because of the live coverage, we will be more prepared and we will be more
discriminate in the manner we ask questions," he said.
The names of the 24 candidates will be published in major newspapers on July
9.
In the same announcement, the JBC will invite the public to submit their
comments for or against any of those in the list within 10 days or until July
19.
It will be the first time the public interviews of chief justice aspirants
will be covered live on TV and radio.
After the interviews, the JBC members will deliberate and vote on a shortlist
to be submitted to President Aquino by end of the month.
The JBC closed the period of nomination and application for chief justice
last Monday.
Topping the list are acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and five other
Supreme Court justices: Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-de Castro,
Arturo Brion, Roberto Abad and Ma. Lourdes Sereno.
Two Cabinet members, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Solicitor General
Francis Jardeleza, were included after they accepted their nomination.
Four prominent members of academe also accepted their nomination: former
University of the Philippines law dean Raul Pangalangan, De La Salle University
law founding dean Jose Manuel Diokno, University of the East law dean Amado
Valdez and former Ateneo law dean Cesar Villanueva.
A member of Congress made it to the JBC long list, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus
Rodriguez.
Three members of independent government bodies – Presidential Commission on
Good Governance chairman Andres Bautista, Commission on Elections Commissioner
Rene Sarmiento and Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Teresita Herbosa
– also accepted their nominations.
Completing the long list are: Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Ma. Amelia
Tria-Infante, retired Judge Manuel Siayngco Jr., former executive secretary
Ronaldo Zamora and lawyers Katrina Legarda,
Soledad Cagampang-de Castro, Rafael Morales, Vicente Velasquez and Ferdinand
Jose Pijao.
The Constitution requires the chief justice to be at least 40 years of age, a
judge in a court of record for at least 15 years or engaged in the practice of
law in the Philippines for the same period, and a person of proven competence,
integrity, probity and independence.
The position of chief justice was opened following the removal of Renato
Corona last May 29.
'Be vigilant'
Meanwhile, Archbishop Oscar Cruz urged the public yesterday to be vigilant on
whoever will be named the next chief justice.
Speaking at the weekly Balitaan sa Aloha Hotel in Manila, the former
president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said "whoever
will be appointed should be under the vigilance of the general public."
However, Cruz said all the candidates deserve the benefit of the doubt.
"What's good about the Supreme Court is that it is a collegial body. But the
chief justice is a very influential figure. Let's watch out whoever they will
appoint," he said.
Cruz also feared that with the appointment of a new chief justice, the
judiciary might fall under the thumb of the executive branch.
"I think it is not a secret that the legislative is already under the
executive," he said.
"Now what could emerge later on is that even the judiciary will be under the
executive department because of the change of the chief justice. Especially so
(with) the choice of chief justice. This is something serious. The special
provision of coequality of the three branches of government... is in paper, but
not in reality." – With Sandy Araneta



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