Supreme Court aspirants face Judicial and Bar Council

MANILA, Philippines - The interview for nominees to the vacant seat in the Supreme Court (SC) continued yesterday with four of seven aspirants vowing to assert their independence once they are appointed to the Court.

This developed as the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) also set the interview of nominees for the replacement of Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta, who was appointed to the SC last month.

University of Santo Tomas law school dean Robert Abad, Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justices Hakim Abdulwahid and Lucas Bersamin, and Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) Presiding Justice Ernesto Acosta offered different reasons and backgrounds to convince the members of the JBC to recommend them as replacement of SC Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, who retired earlier this month.

During the JBC interview the other day, Abad said he is ready for a seat in the Court. “I’m a result of things I went through. I listen to people. After my wife died, I realized life is a brief journey. What really matters is relationships. My kids have all graduated so I’m not trying to earn anything anymore for anyone.”

He also clarified reports that he was a former lawyer of business tycoon Lucio Tan, saying big companies of Tan hired him because of his competence in handling cases.

Abdulwahid, on the other hand, said he wants to become an SC justice to give representation to Mindanao at the country’s highest court.

He cited his good judicial performance at the CA over the past six years, having disposed of 591 of 600 cases since he was appointed to the appellate court in 2003.

Acosta said he is an expert on tax law. He also stressed that out of 400 cases disposed by CTA under his watch, 70 were raised to the SC and 98 percent of their rulings on those cases were affirmed by the High Court.

Acosta was a nominee in the search for a replacement of SC Justice Ruben Reyes, who retired last Jan.3, but he withdrew his application even before he was interviewed by the JBC late last year for a still undisclosed reason.

Bersamin cited his competence and his independence as his best qualifications to the SC post.

Set to face the JBC today are CA Justice Japar Dimaampao, human rights lawyer Pablito Sanidad and CA Justice Amelita Tolentino.

After the interview, the JBC will submit a shortlist of five candidates to President Arroyo who will appoint the new SC justice.

Abad was a former assistant solicitor-general during the time of former solicitor-general Estelito Mendoza.

The human rights group Free Legal Assistance Group nominated Sanidad.

Tolentino convicted Hubert Webb, son of former senator Freddie Webb, for the massacre of the Vizconde family.

Abdulwahid and Dimaampao are two of the highest-ranking Muslims in the judiciary.

The JBC said it would no longer interview 11 other applicants who had previously applied for Justice Reyes’s position last Jan. 3, which went to Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Peralta.

Solicitor-General Agnes Devanadera was removed from the list of nominees due to a pending case before the Ombudsman, while businessman Rodolfo Robles was not nominated because of his age.

They were, however, again nominated for the Azcuna post.

The other nine nominees are: CA Justices Portia Hormachuelos, Martin Villarama, Andres Reyes, Remedios Salazar-Fernando, and Juan Enriquez; Sandiganbayan Justices Edilberto Sandoval and Francisco Villaruz; Ateneo Law School dean Cesar Villanueva; and former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Jose Buñag.

For the selection of the next Sandiganbayan presiding justice, the JBC has set the public interview of five associate justices of the anti-graft court: Ma. Cristina Cortez, Norberto Geraldez, Gregory Ong,

Edilberto Sandoval and Francisco Villaruz Jr.

In a paid advertisement in the main section of The STAR yesterday, the JBC announced that Cortez and Geraldez would be interviewed in the morning of March 18, with Ong taking his turn in the afternoon. Sandoval and Villaruz would face the council on the morning of March 19.

The interview for nominees for Sandiganbayan presiding justice would also be held at the Division Hearing Room of the New Supreme Court Building along Padre Faura St. in Manila. - Edu Punay, Ma. Lorena Baclagon