'Estrada stand on chief justice appointment based on political considerations'

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Joseph Estrada’s stand against allowing President Arroyo to name the next chief justice is based on political considerations, not on the Constitution, the Supreme Court said yesterday.

Jose Midas Marquez, court administrator and SC spokesman, said Estrada’s opinion on the issue was from a “political perspective.”

“He wasn’t speaking of constitutional issues,” he said.

However, Marquez said he was not saying that Estrada’s position is wrong.

“It’s just taken from a different angle,” he said.

“As former president, he is aware of various political considerations that may not involve legal issues,” he said.

It would still be best to allow the SC to rule on pending cases involving the issue, Marquez said.

Estrada told The STAR last Friday. Mrs. Arroyo should allow her successor to name the successor of Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who will retire on May 17.

Mrs. Arroyo should follow the example of her father, President Diosdado Macapagal, who rejected the midnight appointments of his predecessor, President Carlos Garcia.

Meanwhile, former justice secretary Estelito Mendoza has pushed for the participation of Puno in the SC deliberations on the legality of a proposal to allow Mrs. Arroyo to name his successor.

Mendoza said Puno should not inhibit himself from deliberating on his petition, which has been consolidated with those of the Philippine Constitution Association and lawyers Jaime Soriano and Arturo De Castro, he added.

Mendoza said Chief Justice Andres Narvasa joined deliberations on a similar case involving President Fidel Ramos’ appointments of Judges Mateo Valenzuela and Placido Vallarta in May 1998.

“Chief Justice Narvasa was not disqualified from participating in the proceedings,” he said. – Edu Punay