JBC set to interview nominees for SC post

MANILA, Philippines - The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) is set to interview nominees for the Supreme Court (SC) seat to be vacated by Associate Justice Roberto Abad who retires on May 22.

The seven-member constitutional body tasked to vet nominees in the judiciary has set public interviews of at least 15 aspirants on May 29 and 30, according to lawyer Jose Mejia, its regular member from academe.

Mejia said the council received no new application or recommendation by mail since the deadline for nominations ended last March 19.

The nominees include 11 insiders and four outsiders from the judiciary.

They are presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. and Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas, Rosmari Carandang, Stephen Cruz, Ramon Paul Hernando, Jose Reyes Jr., Noel Tijam and Nina Antonio-Valenzuela from the Court of Appeals; Associate Justices Ma. Cristina Cornejo and Rafael Lagos from the Sandiganbayan, and Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Reynaldo Daway.

Commission on Audit Chairman Grace Pulido-Tan and Commissioner Ma. Rowena Guanzon, De La Salle University law dean Jose Manuel Diokno and Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza are the other nominees.

The Constitution requires candidates for associate justice of the SC to be natural born citizen, at least 40 years of age and with 15 years or more of experience as a judge of a lower court or engaged in the practice of law in the country.

The magistrate must also be “a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence.”

The new justice will be the fifth appointment to the high court by President Aquino. The first four were Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Associate Justices Bienvenido Reyes, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Marvic Leonen.

Abad, who became the 165th member of the SC on Aug. 7, 2009, is reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 on May 22.

Sereno chairs the JBC, with Senator Aquilino Pimentel III and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima as ex-officio members.

The other JBC members are retired Court of Appeals justice Aurora Santiago-Lagman, representing the private sector, and Milagros Fernan-Cayosa from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

The membership for representative of retired justices is vacant.