3 lawmakers file bill prohibiting midnight appointments

MANILA, Philippines - Three congressmen have filed a bill that seeks to prohibit an outgoing president from making midnight appointments in the judiciary.

Bayan Muna Representatives Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño and Neri Colmenares filed Bill 7109 in the wake of the controversy on whether President Arroyo could appoint the successor of Chief Justice Reynato Puno without violating the Constitution.

Puno retires on May 17, a week after the nation shall have elected a new president.

Under Bill 7109, an outgoing chief executive would be prohibited from making appointments in the judiciary two months before a presidential election and up to the end of his or her term.

The present Constitution bans the incumbent president from making major appointments, including those in the judiciary, two months before her term expires on June 30.

Ocampo, who is eyeing a Senate seat in the May 10 elections, said Mrs. Arroyo should not insist on appointing Puno’s successor.

He said the President would be violating the constitutional prohibition against midnight appointments if she appoints the next chief justice.

Her insistence would also “put a cloud of doubt on the credibility of whoever is appointed chief justice,” he said.

Several groups have asked the Supreme Court to resolve the issue of whether Mrs. Arroyo could appoint Puno’s successor.

Former defense secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., standard-bearer of the ruling Lakas-Kampi, has urged the President, who is titular head of the administration party, to leave the appointment of Puno’s successor to the next president.

Presidential survey leader Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has categorically asserted that Mrs. Arroyo would be violating the Constitution if she appoints the next chief justice.