6 SC candidates to face JBC

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) will interview on Wednesday six candidates seeking a seat which will be vacated upon the retirement of Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Noel Tijam.

The four candidates from the Court of Appeals are Justices Ricardo Rosario, Ramon Cruz, Eduardo Peralta Jr. and Ramon Bato Jr.

On the other hand, the candidates from the Sandiganbayan are Justices Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Efren De La Cruz.

Aside from the five, there are 13 other candidates vying for the vacancy but whose previous interviews remain valid.

They are CA Justices Manuel Barrios, Stephen Cruz, Edgardo delos Santos, Japar Dimaampao, Ramon Garcia, Amy Lazaro-Javier, and Mario Lopez; Sandiganbayan Justice Alex Quiros; SC Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez; Tagum Regional Trial Court Judge Virginia Tehano-Ang; and lawyers Cesar Villanueva and Rita Linda Jimeno.

Tijam, who will retire on January 5, was appointed SC magistrate on March 8, 2017 and was President Duterte’s second appointee at the high tribunal.

Prior to his appointment at the SC, Tijam served as a justice at the Court of Appeals (CA).

Tijam is also Duterte’s classmate from the San Beda College of Law where the magistrate graduated cum laude and class salutatorian from the San Beda College of Law in 1971.

He passed the bar examinations on the same year at the age of 22.