Midnight appointments: GMA names 18 CA justices

While she cannot seem to choose one candidate to appoint to the lone vacancy in the Supreme Court (SC), President Arroyo has named 18 more justices to the Court of Appeals (CA) two days before the election-related ban on her appointing power took effect.

The "midnight" appointments were signed on March 9 by the President and transmitted by the Office of the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel to Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. on March 10. The list was received by the Office of the Supreme Court’s Clerk of Court en banc on March 11.

The new appointees, all former regional trial court judges, are Isaias Dicdican, Santiago Rañada Jr., Arcangelita Romilla Lontok, Lucento Tagle, Japar Dimaampao, Celia Librea-Leagogo, Monina Arevalo Zenarosa, Pampio Abarintos, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Mariflor Punzalan Castillo, Teresita Dy-Liacco Flores, Arturo Tayag, Sesinando Villon, Vicente Yap, Ramon Bato Jr., Romulo Borja, Edgardo Camello, and Rodrigo Lim Jr.

There are currently 51 justices in the appellate court and the new appointments complete the roster as provided for under Republic Act 8246, which created additional divisions in the CA and increased the number of justices to 69.

The first 17 divisions will be stationed in Manila for cases coming from the first to the fifth judicial regions; the 18th, 19th and 20th divisions shall be in Cebu City for cases coming from the sixth, seventh and eighth judicial regions; the 21st, 22nd and 23rd shall be in Cagayan de Oro City to handle cases from the ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th judicial regions.

The Department of Justice said the ban on appointments to be made by the President took effect on March 11, leaving the issue of her non-appointment of a 15th SC justice hanging.

Despite the delay in the appointment to complete the bench, Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) member and Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan said the President did not commit an impeachable offense, seems there seem to be valid reasons for her to take her time in naming a new SC justice.

"Without any proof of unjustified cause for delay, there is no impeachable offense," he said.

Acting Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez said the President can no longer make any appointments, as the Constitution provides that "two months immediately before the next presidential election and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments, to executive positions when continued vacancies therein prejudice public service or endanger public safety."

Malacañang, for its part, maintained that the 90-day period in which Mrs. Arroyo has to fill in the lone vacancy in the high tribunal does not apply in the case of Sandiganbayan Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, whose appointment to the SC had been approved but later withdrawn.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said the 90-day period is "not mandatory but merely directory," citing a precedent when no justice was selected to fill in a vacancy at the appellate court within the required period.

"At the end, this was resolved because after that the President appointed one," he said, but admitted he could not recall the specific justice involved.

The President signed Nazario’s appointment papers last Feb. 10, but the justice has yet to be sworn into office.

Mrs. Arroyo later explained the delay in Nazario’s appointment to the SC as due to the clamor for the Sandiganbayan justice to complete the ongoing plunder trial of deposed President Joseph Estrada.

Bunye said that despite the lapse of the 90-day period in which Nazario had to assume her post at the SC, he believes "the Supreme Court has the quorum and can still function without this new appointment."

He added that Nazario’s appointment was merely "on hold" for now. — With Marichu Villanueva