CA justices appeal for seat in SC

Now it’s their turn to make an appeal.

Justices of the Court of Appeals yesterday called on President Arroyo to consider appointing somebody from their ranks to the Supreme Court.

In a manifesto, the CA justices lamented that only one of the five nominees to fill SC vacancies came from the appellate court for the "first time in many years," when the CA should be the "traditional source of promotion" to the highest court of the land.

The CA nominee to the SC is Justice Ruben Reyes, who is reportedly at the tailend of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) list of nominees.

Former Taguig-Pateros congressman Dante Tinga got the highest number of JBC votes, followed by Office of the Court Administrator chief Presbiterio Velasco, University of the Philippines College of Law Dean Raul Pangalangan and Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong.

"We respectfully plead that the judicial career system be upheld, even as we believe in your pronouncement that you want to make the right decisions without political consideration," read the manifest signed by 27 CA justices.

"A reward of promotion is something we look forward to. It helps keep our morale amidst our backbreaking load of work, especially with the unloading of labor and Ombudsman administrative disciplinary cases from the Supreme Court to our court," they said in the manifesto.

The President’s most recent appointment to the Supreme Court, Justice Adolf Azcuna, though highly qualified, came from private practice.

"We have been hoping since then that, this time, somebody from our ranks will make it, considering good reputation and experience, seniority and good performance. After all, the Constitution requires of the position proven competence, integrity, probity and independence," the CA justices said.

The newest member of the SC will be Mrs. Arroyo’s seventh appointee, replacing Justice Vicente Mendoza who retired on April 5. The President has 90 days from the date of vacancy, or until the first week of July, to appoint Mendoza’s successor.

The President’s appointees to the SC are Azcuna and Justices Antonio Carpio, Alicia Austria-Martinez, Renato Corona, Conchita Carpio-Morales and Romeo Callejo Sr.

Only Martinez, Corona and Callejo came from the CA.

The JBC said the nomination of the five could still be opposed directly before the President.

Some sectors have aired their reservations over the nomination of Tinga, saying there could be other people more qualified to fill the vacant SC post.

Critics said it was Tinga who chaired the House committee on energy, which passed the oil deregulation law that was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1997.