Robles appeals JBC disqualification

The lawyer disqualified because of his age by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) from the list of candidates for a vacancy in the Supreme Court appealed yesterday to Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

Lawyer Rodolfo Robles, 65, sent a letter to Puno, chairman of the JBC, seeking clarification of the SC “five-year rule” that gives justices a minimum of five years to serve in the Court.

Robles was born July 1, 1943, and as of this November was 65 years and four months old, which makes him unqualified to serve the minimum of five years when the new justice starts serving his term in January 2009.

Marlon Manuel of the Alternative Law Groups, lawyer Roberto Cadiz and Vince Lazatin of the Transparency and Accountability Network, had earlier sent a letter to Chief Justice Puno questioning the age of Robles.

The two lawyers said Robles’ age disqualifies him from being nominated to a vacancy in the Supreme Court as Rule 8, Section 2 of the JBC Rules states that the Council will not consider for nomination non-career and career applicants who “may no longer be able to serve the court for at least five years or at least one and one-half years, respectively before reaching the compulsory age of retirement.”

“I have been uncertain about the nature of the five -year rule for non-career and its application to specific cases. I proceeded to try out for the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court with the honest belief that this rule is only a guideline for the Judicial and Bar Council in looking at the qualifications of an aspirant for the Supreme Court. And as a guideline, it will not be applied to disqualify an aspirant,” Robles said in his letter to Puno.

Robles also sent a copy of his letter to the other JBC members, including Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Sen. Francis Escudero, Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, retired Supreme Court justice Regino Hermosisima, Dean Amado Dimayuga, retired justice Aurora Lagman, and Conrado Castro. The letter was also sent to SC Associate Justices Leonardo Quisumbing and Consuelo Ynares-Santiago and Court Administrator Jose Perez and SC Clerk of Court Ma. Luisa Villarama.

Robles said the JBC rule governing the age of the applicant to the Supreme Court is flexible. He said the two-year rule was reduced to just one and a half years to accommodate former justice secretary Artemio Tuquero.

The JBC had also disqualified Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera and former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Mario Buñag from the list of contenders vying for the seat to be vacated on Jan. 3, 2009 by retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruben Reyes because they have pending administrative and criminals cases.

“Unless the two candidates, namely Solgen Devanadera and Attorney Buñag, can submit a clearance before the JBC votes on Monday that they have been cleared of the cases filed against them then they will be excluded from Monday’s deliberation,” said SC spokesman Midas Marquez.

Devanadera has a pending complaint against her for graft before the Office of the Ombudsman, which is a ground for disqualification under Rule 4, Section 5 of the JBC Rules.

Former Ilocos governor Luis “Chavit” Singson filed on Oct. 11, 2006 plunder charges against Devanadera and 42 other officials from the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), Bulk Handlers Inc. (BHI) and Poro Poro Point Industrial Corp. (PPIC).

Singson cited Devanadera in his complaint for her failure to nullify the Poro Point development contract between BHI and BCDA.

Buñag, however, said he is not giving up as he intends to beat the deadline set by the JBC to show proof that the cases filed against him have been dismissed with finality. “I will try to beat the deadline and have this case against me dismissed. This is just a harassment case.” said Buñag.