JBC to grill aspirants for SC post online

MANILA, Philippines — For the first time, the Judicial and Bar Council will hold an online public interview of applicants for the Supreme Court (SC) post left vacant by the retirement of Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr., the JBC announced yesterday.

JBC members will interview the aspirants via Zoom at around 10 a.m. on May 28. They are Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justices Ramon Bato Jr., Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla, Edwin Sorongon and Nina Antonio-Valenzuela.

They are eyeing to replace Reyes who retired from the judiciary on May 11.

SC clerk of court and JBC ex-officio secretary Edgar Aricheta said nine other candidates for the post were previously interviewed by the council.

They were CA Associate Justices Manuel Barrios, Ramon Cruz, Japar Dimaampao, Jhosep Lopez, Eduardo Peralta Jr., Pablito Perez, and Ricardo Rosario; as well as Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, and SC administrator Jose Midas Marquez.

The public may e-mail a sworn complaint or letter of opposition against the applicants at [email protected] and [email protected].

The JBC also announced the opening of applications for the position vacated by CA Presiding Justice Romeo Barza who retired in August last year.