‘Noy wants Leonen for SC’

MANILA, Philippines - Chief government peace negotiator Marvic Leonen is the “personal choice” of President Aquino to fill the lone vacancy in the Supreme Court (SC) left by the promotion of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno last August, according to Malacañang insiders.

The sources said Leonen has the definitive edge, owing to the fact that it was Aquino himself who persuaded the former law dean of the University of the Philippines  to apply for the vacancy in the SC.

Leonen was nominated to the 15-member high tribunal by former UP president Emerlinda Roman and human rights lawyer Pablito Sanidad.

Leonen, the government chief negotiator with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), accepted the nomination.

If appointed, Leonen will be spending more than two decades in the judiciary since he is in his late 40s.

Sereno, now 52 years old, will be chief magistrate for 18 years, or until 2030, spanning the terms of four presidents.

In an interview in Laos where the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting was held, Aquino credited Leonen for securing the peace deal with the MILF, saying the chief negotiator assembled the “nuts and bolts” of the government’s framework agreement.

“At the same time, opportunities in this profession to become an associate justice need to be fair,” the President said.

“Medyo grabe na rin ang na-achieve ni Marvic (He has achieved quite a bit),” Aquino said, clarifying that he still has to consult Leonen about the matter.

Leonen topped the shortlist of seven nominees for the vacancy in the SC, along with former energy secretary
Raphael Lotilla, Court of Appeals (CA) Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr., and CA Associate Justice Rosmari Carandang.

The others were CA Justices Noel Tijam and Jose Reyes Jr., and De La Salle University Law dean Jose Manuel Diokno.

Aquino has until Nov. 22 to fill the vacancy created by the elevation of Sereno to the post of chief justice last August. Under the law, the President has 90 days to fill the vacancy in the judiciary.

Leonen was admonished by SC justices in March 2011 when he led faculty members of the UP Law in calling for the resignation of incumbent Justice Mariano del Castillo over charges of plagiarism.

In a panel interview, Leonen told the eight-member Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) – an independent constitutional body that screens applicants for the judiciary – that he is not close to Aquino because his work as negotiator is only limited to the framework agreement and its implementation.

Leonen nonetheless said that peace negotiations with the MILF will continue even if he is no longer part of the peace panel.

Leonen vowed to be independent from the executive if appointed to the high court, stressing he does not have any political attachment to the President since he did not campaign for him in the 2010 polls.

He was only recruited to head the peace panel because of his known advocacies.

A source at Malacañang said Leonen’s remark is true – that he had no role in the campaign and that he is not a member of the Liberal Party – but that Aquino apparently liked him.