JBC mulls bending rules for Carpio
The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) will consider bending its rules on nominations for Supreme Court (SC) chief for acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, ex-officio member of the JBC, revealed yesterday that Carpio may still be considered for the top judicial post vacated by Maria Lourdes Sereno despite Carpio’s reported decision to decline any nomination.
Guevarra explained that while JBC rules require nominees to submit conforme or acceptance of nominations to the council, this rule could be waived in the case of Carpio, as requested by retired chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. in a letter to the council.
“The JBC rules require the consent of the automatic nominee. But since there is a request to dispense with such consent, the JBC may have to consider it,” Guevarra revealed.
Guevarra said the sevenmember council tasked to vet nominees to judicial posts will discuss this matter in their next meeting, which will be presided over by Carpio himself as acting chief justice and ex-officio chair of the council.
In his recent letter to the JBC, Davide supported the automatic nomination of Carpio for the chief justice post and asked the council to still consider the most senior justice in the current composition of the SC even if he formally declines the nomination.
“He had earlier been bypassed twice. Delicadeza (propriety) should no longer be invoked because the decision in the quo warranto case is final. It has become the law of the case,” the retired chief justice stressed.
“The vacancy is real and lawful. He was not responsible for its occurrence. Personal consideration must now yield to the demands of public interest and of the good of the service. He should not deprive the President to have the opportunity for a wider field of choice for the best for the (SC) in particular and the judiciary and the people in general,” he added.
Carpio and the four other most senior magistrates of the SC – Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin – have been automatically nominated for the chief justice post under JBC rules.