Palace to heed Supreme Court stand on Sandiganbayan appointment

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang said yesterday it would abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) and just let the next president appoint a new presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Charito Planas said that the Palace would not insist on having President Arroyo name the replacement of the late Sandiganbayan presiding justice Norberto Geraldez now that the High Court has ruled that only the SC is exempted from the constitutional ban on midnight appointments.

Even though the Palace has taken a position that appointments to key positions in the judiciary should be exempted from the ban, it has no choice but to accept the ruling of the Supreme Court, which has become final and executory.

“There is no need to appeal because the Supreme Court decision has been reaffirmed and is now executory,” Planas said in a press briefing yesterday.

“And the reason is very clear, the President can only appoint the chief justice and any vacancy in the Supreme Court, period. So no more appeal, no more reconsiderations,” Planas said.

Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said the Palace would abide by the ruling of the High Court and since an acting presiding justice has been named, there should be no problem here.

Mendoza noted that Justice Edilberto Sandoval is now the acting presiding justice, being the most senior among the justices.

“Justice Sandoval has served in an acting capacity many times already. So every time we have vacancies there, an acting (presiding justice) takes over immediately,” he said.

Mendoza said the President does not have to name the acting presiding justice anymore since the temporary assumption by the most senior justice is automatic.

The Palace previously said that the President was looking at appointing the replacement of Geraldez because of the position taken by her legal experts that she can appoint members of the judiciary even with the ban on midnight appointments.

It was argued that the constitutional ban covers only appointments to the executive branch and that the SC’s decision allowing Mrs. Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice supports this position.

However, the High Court has made it clear that the exemption covers only its members and nothing else.