President Arroyo said yesterday that she has picked the top nominee recommended to her by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to fill up one of two vacancies in the 15-man SC.
Mrs. Arroyo said she will formally announce her choice next week but refused to reveal yet who it will be, except saying that the next SC associate justice would be the one who topped the JBC list that was dominated by judges from the appeals court.
The President revealed this to several newspaper columnists in a dinner reception she hosted last Friday night at Malacañang.
"I have my tentative choice. It would be one of the CA nominees," Mrs. Arroyo said.
"Because usually, I choose my appointees to the SC from the top of the list given to me by the JBC," she pointed out.
Two CA justices, Romeo Callejo and Conchita Carpio-Morales, topped the list of nine names submitted by the JBC to the President.
The two career judiciary officials got the unanimous approval from the seven-member screening committee of the JBC headed by SC Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr.
For now, Mrs. Arroyo said, she would just be picking one new high court judge despite the two vacancies.
Two seats at the SC were vacated by associate justices Jose Melo and Sabino de Leon, who retired on May 28 and June 9 this year.
But even as the JBC submitted its list to Malacañang last Wednesday, another vacancy was created in the high tribunal when Associate Justice Santiago Kapunan reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 last Aug. 12.
Also in the JBC list who come from the CA are, namely, CA presiding justice Cancio Garcia and CA justice Delilah Magtolis. They each got six votes, along with Raul Pangalangan, dean of the University of the Philippines’ College of Law.
CA justice Ruben Reyes got five votes, along with private lawyer Loreta Ata and Ruben Balane, a UP law professor. Sandiganbayan first division acting chairman Gregory Ong got four votes.
An aspirant must get at least four votes to make it to the JBC short list.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Arroyo said she has not yet received the JBC short list for the new ombudsman which was rendered vacant after former Ombudsman Aniano Desierto completed his seven-year term last Aug. 4.
"But I’m glad that the JBC is taking its time to review the qualifications of the aspirants," she said.
Desierto failed to get the required votes from the JBC to be in the running for an SC post. — Marichu Villanueva