Sunday, September 13, 2015

Judicial and Bar Council; a call for improved transparency in the disclosure of its evaluation of the final nominees submitted to Malacanang.




See - 



Read the Procedure for the nomination and election of judges, the Prosecutor
and the Deputy Prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
.


Perhaps the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) of the Philippines and the Supreme Court of the Philippines should take the time to read the aforecited ICC Procedure to see what provisions thereof could be used by them as a model to improve and enhance the current JBC nomination and appointment process for Philippine judges and justices and the Ombudsman, Deputy Ombudsman, and Special Prosecutor.

Without necessarily saying that the ICC Procedure is better that the JBC Procedure, I submit that the current JBC nomination and appointment processes are NOT TRULY TRANSPARENT. 

I am not talking only of the JBC ad hoc televised interviews for top positions. 

More importantly, I refer to the MINUTES OF MEETINGS of the JBC and the EVALUATION SHEETS for the individual nominees that the JBC approves. 

As of now, they are all confidential. 

The current practice of the JBC is merely to submit to Malacanang a list of nominees.

The JBC does not publish the bases and standards for the adoption of its final list of nominees.

I refer to the full disclosure of the following information and documents involving the final nominees:

1. Professional Credentials;
2. Moral background;
3. Tract record in the Bar and the Bench;
4. Financial, business and political connections;
5. Law school and bar exams performance;
6. Physical and psychological examinations;
7. Oppositions from the public; and
8. Other relevant information and documents. 


Atty. Manuel Laserna Jr.
Partner, Laserna Cueva-Mercader Law Offices
Founder, Las Pinas City Bar Assn, Inc., 2001
Former Dir., Sec. & Vice Pres., IBP PPLM Chapter, 1995-2007
Former Prof. of Law, FEU Inst. of Law, 1985-2006
3rd Place, 1984 Bar Exams, 90.95%
AB Journalism, UP Diliman, QC, 1975
Bachelor of Laws, FEU, cum laude, 1984
Master of Laws, UST (cand.), 1998