Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Duterte will appoint 12 Supreme Court justices during his six-year term which ends in June 2022.





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The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has opened the application for the position of Supreme Court magistrate in light of the impending retirement of Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes.

Interested lawyers and judges are given until April 18 to submit their application and documentary requirements to the JBC, which will then vet the candidates for the post to be vacated by Reyes, who will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 on July 6.

The JBC also announced the opening for application or recommendation for the positions of Special Prosecutor of the Office of the Ombudsman and three regular members of the Legal Education Board (LEB).

The term of Ombudsman Special Prosecutor Wendell Barreras-Sulit will end on March 11.

The appointments of LEB regular members Dean Fe Bataller Añonuevo (representing the Philippine Association of Law Schools), Atty. Manuel Riguera (Philippine Association of Law Professors), and Dean Antonio Abad (Ranks of Active Law Practitioners) all ended last January 13.

The deadline of filing of applications and documentary requirements is on March 20 for the Special Prosecutor post and March 29 for the LEB vacancies.

Among the requirements to be submitted to the JBC are birth and law school records, certificate of employment, clearances from the Ombudsman, National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police, medical exam results, and statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

After this, the JBC will deliberate on who should be included in the list of nominees, who will be grilled in a public interview.

The multi-sectoral body will then come up with a shortlist of at least three nominees which will be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte, who makes the final appointment.

The JBC, which screens nominees for vacant posts in the judiciary and the Offices of the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman, is headed by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Its members include the justice secretary, representatives from Congress, academe, retired SC justices, private sector, and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

Duterte will get to make as many as 12 SC appointments during his six-year term which ends in June 2022.

He promoted Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Samuel Martires to the 15-man high court on Monday.

Another SC appointment is expected in the coming weeks as the mandatory 90-day period for Duterte to name the successor of retired Associate Justice Arturo Brion expires on March 29. — Virgil Lopez/RSJ, GMA News

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- See more at: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/602163/news/nation/jbc-opens-search-for-replacement-of-sc-justice-reyes#sthash.atsjaaT8.dpuf