JBC vows no more delays; shortlist out today

MANILA, Philippines - Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. has assured the public that the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) will vote on the shortlist for chief justice today.

“We decided it should be the last reset considering the deadline for the chief executive to appoint the chief justice,” he said.

The JBC member said before voting on a shortlist with at least three names, they will first decide on the motion of Malacañang representative, Undersecretary for special concerns Michael Frederick Musngi, to suspend their rule on disqualification.

The meeting will start at 11 a.m., he added.

President Aquino only has 90 days from May 29 when Renato Corona was removed to name the next chief justice.

Should the JBC submit its shortlist today, he only has barely two weeks to make the appointment.

The voting was delayed five times in the past two weeks due to bad weather and issues involving the JBC’s composition and qualification of three candidates who have pending administrative cases.

Section 5 rule 4 of JBC rules provides for disqualification of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza and Securities and Exchange Commissioner chairperson Teresita Herbosa, who are facing administrative cases.

The JBC will resolve whether this issue on pending cases involves question on integrity, which is a main qualification for the top judicial post.

The Constitution requires the chief justice to be at least 40 years of age, a judge in a court of record for at least 15 years or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines for the same period, and a person of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence.

Tupas said when the qualification of any candidate is raised based on any of these main criteria, the JBC should decide unanimously.

A single vote against a majority opinion serves as a veto, he added.

The JBC unanimously agreed last Friday that the three aspirants with pending cases are automatically disqualified based on their rules, Tupas said.

Musngi sought suspension of the rule, which Tupas had supported.

Veteran lawyer Romulo Macalintal agreed that the JBC should not disqualify De Lima and two other candidates with pending cases based solely on the rules.

“In De Lima’s case and those similarly situated, the JBC could be guided by existing Civil Service Commission’s Uniform Rules on Administrative Cases defining the phrase ‘pending administrative cases’ as one where the ‘disciplinary authority has issued a formal charge’ or where a ‘prima facie case is found to exist by the disciplinary authority,” he said.

In a statement, Macalintal said Career Executive Service Board Circular No.1, Series of 2005 states that “an administrative case is deemed pending when a formal charge has already been filed or instituted by the disciplining authority.

“In one case where some employees of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) were denied employee’s privileges because they had ‘pending administrative cases,’ the Supreme Court Second Division, in a decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Carpio in 2011, ruled against the GSIS and held that ‘an employee who has a pending administrative case is given the benefit of the doubt and considered innocent until the contrary is proven,” he said.

“In other words, De Lima still possesses her constitutional right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty which altogether means that the pending disbarment case against her is not a bar to her nomination for Chief Justice. The disbarment case against De Lima has not yet reached the stage where she is formally charged or that the evidence of her guilt is strong to justify her exclusion from the list of nominees to the said position.”

The JBC had deferred its voting five times in the last two weeks.

Voting on the shortlist are Tupas, Sen. Francis Escudero, Musngi, SC Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta, retired SC Justice Regino Hermosisima from retired justices, lawyer Milagros Fernan-Cayosa from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, retired Court of Appeals Justice Aurora Lagman from the private sector, and lawyer Jose Mejia from academe.

On top of the choices are acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion, Roberto Abad and Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

Two other current officials are also being considered: Presidential Commission on Good Government chairman Andres Bautista and Commission on Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento.

Members of academe in the list are De La Salle University law founding dean Jose Manuel Diokno, University of the East law dean Amado Valdez, former University of the Philippines law dean Raul Pangalangan and former Ateneo law dean Cesar Villanueva.

Former executive secretary Ronaldo Zamora, retired Judge Manuel Siayngco Jr. and lawyers Soledad Cagampang-De Castro, Katrina Legarda and Rafael Morales complete the choices.