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The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has started the selection process for the replacement of Abad. It received a total of 15 nominees, including 11 insiders in the judiciary and four outsiders.
They are Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. and Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas, Rosmari Carandang, Stephen Cruz, Ramon Paul Hernando, Jose Reyes Jr., Noel Tijam and Nina Antonio-Valenzuela, all from the Court of Appeals; Associate Justices Ma. Cristina Cornejo and Rafael Lagos, both from the Sandiganbayan; and Quezon City regional trial court Judge Reynaldo Daway.
Also nominated were Commission on Audit chair Grace Pulido-Tan and commissioner Ma. Rowena Guanzon, De La Salle University law dean Jose Manuel Diokno and Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza.
The public interviews of the aspirants are set on May 29 and 30.
The Constitution requires candidates for the position of associate justice of the high court to be natural born citizen, at least 40 years of age; and with 15 years or more of experience as a judge of a lower court or engaged in the practice of law in the country. The magistrate must also be “a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence.”
Aquino’s appointees at the SC so far are Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Associate Justices Bienvenido Reyes, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Marvic Leonen.
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