Leonen to face JBC as SC nominee

MANILA, Philippines - After successfully concluding a framework agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Sunday, government peace panel chairman Marvic Leonen is now ready to face the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for his nomination as associate justice of the Supreme Court (SC).

Leonen, who met editors and reporters of The STAR last Monday night, said he is preparing for the interview by the JBC on Oct. 25.

He was one of the 15 nominees to the lone vacancy in the SC.

Leonen, former dean of the College of Law of the University of the Philippines (UP), had just returned from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he initialed the framework agreement on Bangsamoro with the MILF on behalf of the government.

He expressed confidence that he could complete the government’s peace deal with the MILF before he accepted the SC nomination.

Leonen said he is comfortable to meet the timetable of the peace deal before the nominees’ scheduled interview with the JBC on Oct. 25.

Leonen refused to comment when asked about his preference between remaining as government peace panel chairman or being appointed SC Associate Justice, saying he would go “where I am needed.” 

The JBC conducts public interviews of nominees for vacancies at the High Tribunal.

After the interviews, the JBC will submit a shortlist to the President who will choose his appointee.

A lone vacancy occurred in SC last month after President Aquino appointed then Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as the new Chief Justice, replacing impeached chief justice Renato Corona.

Leonen said members of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), former UP presidents, and other private lawyers nominated him to the JBC.

“I told them, ‘Okay Let’s try. I am open’,” he told The STAR.

Leonen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, magna cum laude, at the UP’s School of Economics in 1983.

He obtained his Bachelor of Laws at the UP College of Law in 1987, placing fourth in his class.

Leonen took his Master of Laws at Columbia University in New York before joining the UP faculty as a professorial lecturer in Philippine Indigenous Law and became assistant professor and later academic administrator.

In 2000, Leonen was invited to serve as the UP System’s University General Counsel.

Leonen became the first Vice President for Legal Affairs of the UP System in 2005. He was appointed Dean of the UP College of Law in 2008.