DOJ chief declines SC nomination anew

JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra again declined his nomination for the Supreme Court (SC) post to be vacated by Associate Justice Jose Reyes.

Guevarra told The Manila Times that his services are more needed at the Justice department.

“I think that during these tough and challenging times masmakakatulong (I am be of of help to the people) if I stayed at the DoJ,” he said.

Guevarra wrote to retired Sandiganbayan justice and former chief presidential legal counsel Raoul Victorino, thanking him for the nomination.

“This may very well be my last chance to go for it, considering the new rules on appointment to the SC adopted recently by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), of which I myself am a member,” Guevarra stated in the letter.

Under the revised rules of the

JBC, all applicants to the high court must have at least two and a half years left in service if they previously served as associate justice or presiding justice of an appellate court, or as court administrator, chairperson of a constitutional commission, solicitor general and department secretary.

Private practitioners or those who worked outside of the judiciary and have not served in any of the positions must have at least five years left in service.

Guevarra, 66, is four years short from the mandatory retirement age for justices at 70.

“The government is facing a huge and unprecedented crisis with the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is especially during these troubled times that law and order must be preserved and maintained,” Guevarra added.

Last year, Guevarra was also endorsed by Victorino but he also declined the nomination.