Ban on new appointments by GMA now in effect

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said the ban on President Arroyo’s appointments took effect yesterday, which leaves the issue of her non-appointment of the 15th Supreme Court justice hanging.

Despite the delay in the appointment to complete the bench, Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) member and Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan said the President did not commit an impeachable offense, since there seem to be valid reasons for her to take her time in naming a new SC justice.

A suspended judge, however, filed a petition asking the SC to declare Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Minita Chico-Nazario as the duly appointed justice to the high tribunal.

Judge Florentino Floro Jr., who presided over the Malabon regional trial court and was suspended for various administrative offenses and alleged psychological and mental disorders in 1999, said Nazario should be enjoined from performing her duties as Sandiganbayan presiding justice and immediately be administered a "directory oath of office" as the 15th SC justice.

Floro said there was no need for Nazario to be formally inducted, since her appointment was already complete and announced to the public.

Acting Justice Secretary Merceditas Gutierrez said the President can no longer make any appointments, as the Constitution provides that "two months immediately before the next presidential election and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments, to executive positions when continued vacancies therein prejudice public service or endanger public safety."

But the JBC will still tackle the issue and determine how it will be resolved despite the ban on appointments, Gutierrez said.

For his part, Pangilinan said the President should be given some leeway in her exercise of her power to appoint an SC justice.

"There may be information regarding any of the nominees that could have come to President Arroyo’s attention," he said. "This could be information that members of the JBC are unaware of that need (for) further confirmation or verification on her part, hence the need for additional time for her to come to a decision regarding the said appointment."

"But without any proof of the unjustified cause for delay, there is no impeachable offense," Pangilinan said.

Meanwhile, Floro also asked the Supreme Court to nullify the JBC’s nomination of Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo to the "short list" of SC candidates.

He cited as grounds for his request the disbarment case he filed against Benipayo, whom he alleged is lacking in integrity. According to Floro, Benipayo is corrupt and psychologically and mentally unfit to be in the high tribunal.

Benipayo, as former court administrator, was the one who recommended the indefinite preventive suspension of Floro for various offenses, including predicting former President Joseph Estrada’s downfall and illnesses among his staff, believing in dwarves and the "angel of death" and for wearing dark blue robes instead of the traditional black robes worn by judges.