17 aspiring for vacant Supreme Court justice seat

Justices of the Court of Appeals and Sandiganbayan, other government officials, a private practitioner and newspaper columnist, a university law school dean and a professor comprise the 17 applicants seeking to become the next Supreme Court justice, the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) yesterday said.

The 17 applicants are CA Presiding Justice Cancio Garcia and CA Justices Portia Hormachuelos, Eugenio Labitoria, Regalado Maambong, Delilah Magtolis, Ruben Reyes and Amelita Tolentino - the Parañaque regional trial court judge who convicted the accused in the controversial Vizconde rape and multiple murder case; Sandiganbayan Justices Godofredo Legaspi, Minita Chico-Nazario, Gregory Ong and Edilberto Sandoval.

The others are Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo, Presidential Anti-Graft Commission chairman Dario Rama; Court Administrator Presbiterio Velasco, private lawyer and STAR columnist Jose Sison, University of the Philippines College of Law Dean Raul Pangalangan and UP law professor Ruben Balane.

From the 17 aspirants, the JBC will choose five nominees to replace Justice Josue Bellosillo, who retired last Nov. 12.

The "short list" will then be submitted to President Arroyo, who is mandated by law to fill the SC vacancy only from the list submitted by the JBC.

The newest member of the High Court will be the President’s eighth appointee to the tribunal. The President has 90 days from the date of vacancy to appoint Bellosillo’s replacement.

To date, the President’s appointees to the Supreme Court are Justices Antonio Carpio, Alicia Austria-Martinez, Renato Corona, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Romeo Callejo Sr., Adolfo Azcuna and Dante Tinga.

Tinga’s appointment in July last year sparked a controversy, as some sectors voiced their objection to the appointment of the President’s political allies to government posts.

Critics and members of the political opposition had been using the presence of the President’s appointees in the high tribunal as a reason to complain when they fail to get favorable decisions from the Supreme Court.

They added that the selection process for the new appointees to the supreme Court should be reviewed and strengthened.

The JBC has the principal function of recommending appointees to the judiciary. The members of the High Court and lower court judges are appointed by the President and her decisions are based on the list prepared by the JBC for each vacancy. Such appointments need no confirmation.

The JBC’s ex-officio secretary, Luzviminda Puno, said the council is expected to disclose its five nominees by the end of January. Puno is also the Supreme Court’s clerk of court.

The nominees said any opposition to the applications should be made before the voting takes place. Any objection to a nomination, meanwhile, can be directly aired before the President.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Rep. Marcelino Libanan are the JBC’s representatives from Congress.

The council’s regular members include retired Supreme Court Justice Regino Hermosisima, lawyer Teresita Cruz Sison, Dean Amado Dimayuga and Conrado Castro. They represent the retired justices, private sector, the academe and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), respectively.