JBC shortlists 3 senior magistrates for SC chief
Three senior magistrates of the Supreme Court (SC) are included in the shortlist of nominees for the top judicial post.
Associate Justices Teresita de Castro and Diosdado Peralta both got six votes in the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) shortlist for the position of SC chief justice, while Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin received five votes. The JBC is set to submit the names of the three candidates to President Duterte. They were previously appointed to the SC by then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Since the JBC only has six members, this means that both De Castro and Peralta has the support of all the JBC members – SC acting Chief Justice and JBC ex-officio Antonio Carpio, Sen. Richard Gordon, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, and the three JBC regular members retired SC Justice Jose Mendoza, Maria Milagros Fernan-Cayosa and Toribio Ilao Jr.
One of the JBC members, however, did not vote in favor of Bersamin.
Out of the three candidates, De Castro, if she were chosen to be the next chief justice, would have less than two months to serve since she will turn 70 years old on Oct. 8.
De Castro was appointed as SC associate justice on Dec. 3, 2007.
Sources in the administration said De Castro, seen as Sereno’s arch enemy, may be appointed chief justice, giving her a chance to serve until her retirement this October.
Sources added Bersamin might take over following De Castro’s retirement.
Peralta, on the other hand, is the youngest of the three candidates being only 66 years old and would have four years to serve, if selected. He joined the SC on Jan. 13, 2009.
Bersamin is 68 and would only be able to serve two years as chief justice. He has been with the SC since April 3, 2009.
Among the nominees, Tagum City Davao del Norte Judge Virginia Tejano-Ang was disqualified after facing an administrative case, Guevarra said.
Andres Reyes Jr., the only SC associate justice who applied for the post, did not make it to the shortlist. The 68-yearold magistrate has only been with the high court for more than a year after his appointment by President Duterte on June 12, 2017.
Guevarra said the impeachment complaint against the seven SC justices who voted for the ouster of former chief justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno was not taken into consideration.
“(The) mere filing of the impeachment complaint (is) not enough to disqualify. It is not yet considered an impeachment case, until it is affirmatively acted upon by the appropriate House (of Representatives) committee,” Guevarra said.
All the four SC justices who applied for the post of chief justice are facing the impeachment complaint filed lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman.
The seven SC magistrates who voted against Sereno were De Castro, Peralta, Bersamin, Reyes, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam and Alexander Gesmundo.
Lagman, for his part, accused the JBC of acting with “indecent alacrity” in nominating De Castro, Peralta and Bersamin for the vacant position of chief justice. “The shortlist was finalized by the JBC in less than 24 hours after the afore-named justices were charged with culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust together with four other associate justices who voted for the ouster of chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in an irregular and improper quo warranto petition,” he said.
Lagman said the council should have considered the disqualification of the justices in view of the pending impeachment cases against them.
“(This is) akin to or even more serious than an administrative case whose pendency bars the appointment of any applicant to a judicial position,” Lagman said.
“The rationalization that the impeachment complaints have not matured to a pending case is flawed because upon filing of the said impeachment complaints and before they are dismissed, said impeachment complaints are deemed pending just like unresolved criminal and administrative cases,” he added.
Lagman urged the JBC to withdraw its shortlist and reopen the nomination process for the position vacated by Sereno. Meanwhile, Castro ordered a “partial reorganization” of the three divisions of the high court with the recent retirement of associate justice Presbitero Velasco Jr.
Carpio signed Special Order No. 2585 that covers the “partial reorganization of the three divisions of the Court and designation of the regular members.”
With the retirement of Velasco and the recent appointment of SC Associate Justice Samuel Martires to head the Office of the Ombudsman, there are only 13 members left in the SC.
In the reorganization of the three SC divisions, Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta has been appointed to head the First Division with Associate Justices Mariano del Castillo, Jardaleza and Tijam as members, with Alexander Gesmundo as acting member.
Carpio would chair the Second Division, while Associate Justices Estela Perlas Bernabe, Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, Andres Reyes Jr. and Jose Reyes Jr. as members.
Reyes was appointed by President Duterte on Aug. 10 to fill in the position left behind by Velasco when he retired last Aug. 8.
Associate Justice De Castro has been tapped to chair the Third Division. Named members are Associate Justices Bersamin, Mario Victor Leonen and Gesmundo as members, with Reyes as acting member.
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