P-Noy to have 2 new appointees to SC

MANILA, Philippines -  President Aquino is expected to appoint two new Supreme Court associate justices when two magistrates retire in June.

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) had also extended the period of application for two upcoming vacancies in the Supreme Court to be left by the retirement of Associate Justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Conchita Carpio-Morales in June.

SC spokesman Midas Marquez said that the eight JBC members led by Chief Justice Renato Corona decided during their meeting yesterday to extend the 10-day deadline that lapsed last March 28.

Nachura is set to retire on June 13 while Morales would retire on June 19.

The JBC members realized that the period was too short considering that some applicants for SC justice have failed to submit their applications or nominations “within this period.”

“The JBC has decided to still consider until April 29 at 5 p.m. the applications and nominations for SC justice of persons with outstanding qualifications, provided they give a valid justification for failing to apply within the earlier period and subject to the sound discretion of the JBC,” he revealed.

Marquez, however, confirmed that the JBC had already received 28 applicants for the two soon to be vacant positions in SC.

The applicants include 17 Court of Appeals(CA) justices, two Sandiganbayan justices, two Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) justices, one Constitutional Commission delegate, a former Commission on Election commissioner and several prominent lawyers.

Among them are perennial applicants, including two Muslim CA justices Hakim Abdulwahid and Japar Dimaampao, and former Comelec commissioner Rene Sarmiento who had previously applied for the last vacancy that was later filled by Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, Aquino’s first appointee to the SC.

Other applicants from the judiciary are: CA Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr., CA Justices Ramon Bato Jr., Estela Perlas Bernabe, Apolinario Bruselas Jr., Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo, Stephen Cruz, Magdangal de Leon, Isaias Dicdican, Remedios Salazar-Fernando, Portia Alino-Hormachuelos, Bienvenido Reyes, Jose Reyes Jr., Noel Tijam and Vicente Veloso; Sandi-ganbayan Justices Francisco Villaruz and Alex Quiroz; and CTA Justices Lovell Bautista and Juanito Castañeda Jr.

Also aspiring for the SC posts are Deputy Court Administrator Nimfa Vilches and Regional Trial Court Judge Marino Rubia of Biñan, Laguna.

The other applicants include constitutionalist and 1968 Bar topnotcher Rodolfo Robles, former University of the Philippines Law Dean Raul Pangalangan, lawyer Tomas Cabili and law books author Francis Jardeleza.