JBC to decide on fate of SC chief nominees today

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) is set to announce today its decision over the controversy surrounding the selection of the next Chief Justice after four of the five nominees failed to appear before the panel for interviews.

This developed as JBC ex-officio member Sen. Francis Pangilinan said he would be pushing for a failure of the nomination process after four of the nominees for chief magistrate failed to appear before the panel for the required interviews last Nov. 29.

"I will push for the declaration of a failure of the nomination process and ask that a new process be undertaken considering that only one nominee complied with the requirement on public interviews," Pangilinan said.

The senator stressed his opinion over the controversy, saying he can be outvoted by the JBC and proceed with the nomination process.

Pangilinan noted that only his colleague — Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago — appeared for interview before the panel.

All five senior Supreme Court justices namely, Reynato Puno, Leonardo Quisumbing, Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago and Antonio Carpio, failed to attend the public interview.

The justices argued they were already subjected to the same interview process even before they were appointed to the Supreme Court.

They argued the interview process under the JBC rules in selecting the chief justice is optional.

The JBC has been tasked to select the next chief magistrate upon the pending retirement of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban on Dec. 7.

Under the law, the JBC is mandated to select from a list of nominees, usually the most senior of the magistrates of the Supreme Court, or a legal luminary, an "outsider" like Santiago.

Sen. Joker Arroyo defended the justices for snubbing the JBC interview, saying the move to snub the interview would provide the appointing power "a convenient justification for her (President’s) choice."

Sen. Ralph Recto also downplayed reports the President was favoring Puno as the next chief justice to supposedly help administration efforts to amend the Constitution.

Reports cited Puno as among the seven justices who voted in favor of the people’s initiative petition. The effort, however, was thumbed down by a vote coming from Panganiban who adopted the majority opinion written by Justice Carpio in the historic 8-7 vote.