JBC to interview candidates for Supreme Court justice on Jan. 19

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) is set to interview on Jan. 19 three of the 10 candidates for the lone vacant position of associate justice in the Supreme Court (SC).

In a statement, the JBC said the last batch of candidates for the vacant SC associate justice post includes: CA Presiding Justice Ruben Reyes, Court of Appeals Associate Justice Edgardo Cruz and government corporate counsel Agnes Vicenta Salayo Devanadera.

The panel interview is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 12 noon at the Old Session Hall on the third floor of the Old Supreme Court Building on Taft Avenue in Manila.

The seven other candidates for SC associate justice were interviewed in February last year by the JBC: CA Associate Justice Roberto Barrios, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, CA Associate Justice Portia Aliño Hormachuelos, Solicitor General Antonio Eduardo Nachura, Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Gregory Ong, CA Associate Justice Conrado Vasquez Jr. and Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Francisco Villaruz Jr.

The JBC declared vacant the SC associate justice post to complete the 15-member SC on Dec. 11, 2006, following the appointment of the SC’s most senior associate justice, Reynato Puno, as chief justice replacing Artemio Panganiban.

"Chief Justice Puno, who is the concurrent JBC ex-officio chairman, will lead the panel interview on Jan. 19," the JBC said in a statement.

The other ex-officio members of the JBC include Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong.

The regular members of the JBC include Dean Amado Dimayuga, retired SC Justice Regino Hermosisima Jr., lawyer Conrado Castro, and retired Sandiganbayan Justice Raoul Victorino. — Jose Rodel Clapano