Corona, Carpio eyed for Suprem Court

It’s a toss-up between two presidential aides as possible replacement for Supreme Court Justice Mi-nerva Gonzaga-Reyes, who is retiring on Tuesday.

Justice Secretary Hernando Perez said the list of potential nominees has been narrowed from seven to only two — Malacañang Chief of Staff Renato Corona and Presidential Legal Counsel Antonio Carpio.

Former Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero, a protégé of the influential Iglesia ni Cristo, is considered a dark horse, but Perez held it unlikely that his predecessor would capture the post because internal rules of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) disqualify those who are 68 years or older.

Perez said the other no-minees were virtually shut out because they either did not have any political backers, or were identified with jailed former President Joseph Estrada.

Perez, an ex officio member of the JBC, told reporters that Justice Bernardo Carpio endorsed Corona during the council’s deliberations on the issue.

The four other nominees were former Commission on Elections Chairwoman Harriet Demetriou, private law practitioner Rogelio Vinluan who belonged to the stable of opposition leader Sen. Edgardo Angara, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena and Sandiganbayan Justice Edilberto Sandoval.

As a judge of the Pasig Regional Trial Court, Demetriou, 55, sentenced former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez and seven co-accused to seven life terms for the murder of University of the Philippines at Los Baños (UPLB) students Eileen Sarmenta and Allan Gomez in June 1993. Sarmenta was also sexually abused.

Garchitorena, a consistent nominee to the High Tribunal, is the estranged husband of Presidential Management Staff chief Vicky Garchitorena.

Vinluan was a member of the prosecution panel in the trial of Claudio Teehankee Jr., son of the late Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee Sr., for the murder of teenager Maureen Hultmann in a posh subdivision in Makati City on July 13, 1991.

Reyes bows out of government service when she turns 70 on Sept. 25, the mandatory retirement age for members of the judiciary.

She was appointed by Estrada to the High Tribunal in January 1999.

A native of Sta. Cruz, Laguna, Reyes obtained her law degree from the UP College of Law.

She also took her Bachelor of Arts degree in the same school in 1954.

She graduated valedictorian in high school in 1948, and magna cum laude when she finished her bachelor of arts studies.

She started as a clerk in the justice department, then eventually rose through the ranks after passing the Bar, being a judicial supervisor, senior special attorney, assistant chief state counsel, chief state counsel, assistant secretary, deputy minister of justice and acting minister of justice.

She was appointed as Court of Appeals justice in January 1987.