Read my past blogs on midnight appointments to the judiciary. Read the latest news item below. The captivity of the Supreme Court is almost complete. The Arroyo Court will soon be born. But, I assure you, Pres. Gloria Arroyo and her corrupt and abusive co-conspirators in and out of the government will not have the benefit of eternal peace. The Filipino democratic and justice movements will hound them no end, with or without an Edsa III (not to mention the natural law of cause and effect or the law of kamma in Pali Buddhism). Monitor history. And you will prove the veracity of this prophecy.
JBC paves way for Arroyo to name new Chief Justice
By Dona Pazzibugan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:31:00 05/04/2010
MANILA, Philippines—The eight-member Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) on Monday paved the way for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s successor who could head the judiciary even well beyond the six-year term of the incoming president.
At their last meeting until Ms Arroyo steps down and the next president assumes office on June 30, the JBC decided to submit on May 5 the names of all four remaining candidates.
On the short list are Supreme Court Associate Justices Renato Corona (the most senior among the candidates), Teresita Leonardo-de Castro and Arturo Brion, and acting Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval.
If appointed, Corona, who turns 62 on Oct. 15, would be Chief Justice for eight years or until 2018 when he shall have reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. He served as Ms Arroyo’s spokesperson and chief of staff before he was appointed on April 9, 2002, to the high court.
De Castro, former presiding justice of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, would also sit as Chief Justice for eight years if appointed. She was born on Oct. 8, 1948.
If named to the top post in the tribunal, Brion, a former Court of Appeals associate justice and labor secretary, would retire two years ahead of Corona and De Castro since he was born on Dec. 29, 1946.
Except for one JBC member, the rest, including opposition Sen. Francis Escudero, gave their vote for all four candidates.
Corona, De Castro and Brion each got eight votes while Sandoval got seven.
J. Conrado Castro, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) representative who was out of the country Monday, sent his vote only for the three Supreme Court justices.
Although Puno will not retire until May 17, he called the meeting even if it was a holiday because he had no other free schedule and because of the upcoming May 10 elections.
With Puno as ex-officio chair, the ex-officio members of the JBC are acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, Escudero and Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor. Escudero and Defensor chair the Senate and House committee on justice, respectively.
The four regular JBC members, who were appointed by Ms Arroyo, are retired Supreme Court Justice Regino Hermosisima Jr., University of Santo Tomas law dean Amado Dimayuga for the academe, retired Supreme Court Justice Aurora Santiago Lagman for the private sector, and Castro representing the IBP.
Not on May 17
While the JBC sent its list ahead of Puno’s retirement, a Supreme Court spokesperson said this did not mean that the JBC gave Ms Arroyo the choice to appoint before the May 10 elections or even before May 17.
“It follows there can be no appointment until the position becomes vacant,” Marquez told reporters when told that Ms Arroyo’s deputy spokesperson Gary Olivar had announced that the President wanted to appoint a new Chief Justice before the elections.
“There can be no two Chief Justices at the same time. So the successor will only succeed when there’s a vacancy already. But if there’s no vacancy, no one can be appointed,” Marquez said.
An early retirement for Puno is also out of the question, he said. “The incumbent Chief Justice (Puno) will finish his term,” he added.
Midnight appointments
The JBC’s submission of the short list to Ms Arroyo despite the constitutional ban against midnight appointments became possible after the Supreme Court in a 9-1 vote reversed a long-standing doctrine and declared on March 17 that the ban did not extend to vacancies in the Supreme Court.
Section 15 Article VII of the Constitution prohibits an outgoing President from making further appointments starting March 10 or two months from the elections and until the end of her term “except for temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety.”
Section 4 Article VIII, however, directs the President to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court within 90 days upon vacancy.
The Supreme Court said that if the Constitution’s framers had wanted to include the Supreme Court in the midnight-appointment ban, they should have explicitly stated so.
In 1998, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that an outgoing President could no longer appoint vacancies in the judiciary as it reconciled Section 15 Article VII and Section 4 Article VIII.
Marquez said the JBC decided to submit the short list on May 5 and not on May 17 “because the JBC does not see a need to delay any further.”
Can’t wait
The JBC could have submitted the list Monday as soon as it had voted but decided it would wait for any action from the Supreme Court today if the tribunal would issue a temporary restraining order, he said.
The Philippine Bar Association (PBA) had appealed to the JBC to defer submission of the short list because it said it would file a second motion for reconsideration.
“The JBC is bending backward for the PBA. But it can’t wait forever. It’s just a matter of one day,” Marquez said.
Defending the decision to submit ahead of the vacancy, Marquez cited a JBC precedent in the appointment of former chief justice Hilario Davide. He said the JBC submitted the short list 18 days before Davide’s predecessor, Andres Narvasa, retired.
Symbolic protest
Before the JBC meeting, Bayan Muna party-list Representatives Satur Ocampo and Teodoro Casiño took time out from the campaign to hold a rally outside Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila in a symbolic protest.
Ocampo said the appointment would leave the Supreme Court under the stigma of being seen as an “Arroyo Court.”
“If they submit the list the impression of the public is that they were also pressured by GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo). They should spare themselves from such stigma,” said Ocampo, who is running for senator.
Asked how the JBC’s decision would affect public perception of the court, Marquez was defensive. “How many were they? If you say that’s public perception who’s the general public?” he said.
He said the issues had already been raised in the petitions and counterpetitions filed in the Supreme Court.
Carpio, Morales
At the JBC meeting, Marquez said “there was a discussion” whether it should include Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales among the candidates even if they did not attend the public interview on April 19.
The two withdrew their nomination as they insisted that Ms Arroyo could no longer appoint anyone to the judiciary under the Constitution.
“There was a discussion and all members decided not to include the two. All seven decided to include all the four (remaining) candidates,” he said.
The Supreme Court would hold its last session on Tuesday. The next session is scheduled for June.
see:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100504-267937/JBC-paves-way-for-Arroyo-to-name-new-Chief-Justice