De Lima leads 1st batch in CJ interviews

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima will lead the first batch of aspirants for oral interview by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) in the selection of the next chief justice.

De Lima will face the JBC on July 24, her oral interview will be aired live on radio and national television.

Apart from De Lima, the other candidates scheduled for the first batch include Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG) chairman Andres Bautista, lawyer Soledad Cagampang-de Castro, De La Salle University law founding dean Jose Manuel Diokno, Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza and women’s rights lawyer Katrina Legarda.

The JBC yesterday revealed the list of the 22 official candidates in a paid advertisement in The STAR.

In the ad, the JBC is inviting the public to participate in the selection process by submitting any sworn complaint or their opposition to any of the candidates until July 20.

The JBC will hold the oral interview of the aspirants from July 24 to 27, which will be covered live by TV and radio networks.

On the second day, the batch of interviewees include Associate Justice Roberto Abad, lawyer Rafael Morales, former University of the Philippines law dean Raul Pangalangan, Justice Arturo Brion, Commission on Elections commissioner Rene Sarmiento and retired judge Manuel Siayngco Jr.

They will have their turn of convincing JBC members of their qualifications to become the next chief justice.

The JBC will then interview on the third day University of the East law dean Amado Valdez, lawyer Vicente Velasquez, acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, Associate Jstice Teresita Leonardo- de Castro and former Ateneo law dean Cesar Villanueva.

The last five bets that will close the oral interview on July 27 would include Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Teresita Herbosa, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, former executive secretary Ronaldo Zamora, and Associate Justices Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Presbitero Velasco Jr.

Lawyer Jose Mejia, regular member of JBC representing academe, explained the order of the interview was based on alphabetical listing of the bets with the six justices of the high court distributed over four days.

SC spokesperson Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra confirmed the magistrates of the high court who accepted their nomination for the chief justice post will submit before the JBC interview despite the decision of former justices to invoke their superiority over the council by exempting themselves from mandatory interview for the same vacancy in 2006.

This developed as the JBC has already received opposition against some bets. Among those was a letter from the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) opposing the nomination of Justice Carpio that they believe embodies “the old boys’ club” in the SC.

“We raise our opposition to the appointment of Justice Carpio because we are gravely concerned that the expected reforms in our criminal justice system that is seriously perceived to be incompetent and corrupt may not be forthcoming with him at the helm of the Supreme Court,” the VACC said.

The relationship between Carpio and members of the VACC turned sour after Lauro Vizconde, the current chair of VACC, accused Carpio of lobbying with his fellow justices for the acquittal of Hubert Webb and six others previously convicted for the massacre of his family in 1991.

Carpio is reportedly a close friend of the Webb family. He even testified for the defense during trial of the case.

Citing unnamed three members of the judiciary, Vizconde claimed that Carpio acted as the point man in marshaling efforts to secure the acquittal of Webb as early as the time that the case was still under review before the Court of Appeals.

Meanwhile, the SC has given the two representatives of Congress in JBC – Sen. Francis Escudero and Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. – more time to answer petition of former solicitor general Frank Chavez questioning their participation in the council.

Guerra said the high court granted the motion of Escudero and Tupas, filed through the Office of the Solicitor General, seeking five more days or until Friday to file their consolidated comment.

Chavez, for his part, reiterated his arguments in a manifestation filed yesterday asking the court to set the case for oral argument or for immediate resolution.

In his petition filed last week, Chavez questioned the legality of Senate and the House of Representatives having separate representatives in the JBC by pointing out Article VIII Section 8 (1) of the Constitution, which states there should only be “a representative of the Congress.”