In the November 24, 2008 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, columnist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, a renowned Philippine constitutionalist, wrote the following about the Judicial and Bar Council, which is in charge of screening the applicants to judicial positions in the Philippines:
1. We would naturally expect that members of the Judicial and Bar Council themselves would likewise be of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence. At this moment we have no choice but to take it on faith that the ex officio members (the Chief Justice, the Secretary of Justice, and the members of Congress) as well as the regular members (the four appointed by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments) possess the desired qualifications. The current interest of the public, however, is in insuring that the JBC will be able to submit to the President a list of potential justices endowed with proven competence, integrity, probity and independence.
2. The JBC, as I recall, was a brainchild of the late Chief Justice Roberto Concepcion. It grew out of dissatisfaction with how the Commission on Appointments of Congress had behaved in the past. It will be recalled that under the 1935 Constitution all appointees, except those exempted by Congress, needed confirmation by the Commission on Appointments. Concepcion thought that appointees to the judiciary from the lowest judge to the justices of the Supreme Court should be screened in a less politically colored way. Thus was created the JBC, with the primary responsibility of limiting the President’s appointments to the judiciary to a list of at least three names.
3. I suggest that voting on who should be considered for appointment to the judiciary, especially to the Supreme Court, is a public and not a private act. Public office is a public trust for which public officers are answerable to the people. How they vote is a matter of public interest about which the public has a constitutional right to be informed.
4. In a sense, the JBC is also in the dock. The interviews of nominees conducted by the JBC are now open to the public. The public will be watching to see if their deliberations and decisions are characterized by integrity, probity and independence.
See:
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20081124-173975/The-JBC-in-the-dock
