SC endorses 7 CA justices for 2 vacancies

MANILA, Philippines -  The Supreme Court (SC) has endorsed seven justices of the Court of Appeals (CA) for the two upcoming vacancies to be left by the successive retirements of Associate Justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Conchita Carpio-Morales this month.

 In a press conference, SC spokesman Midas Marquez yesterday said the SC magistrates had come up with a recommendatory list to be submitted to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). Topping the list is CA Justice Bienvenido Reyes, who gained nine votes.

Fellow Justice Jose Reyes Jr. placed second with eight votes.

Justice Magdangal de Leon came in third with seven votes. Also in the list were presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr., and justices Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Noel Tijam.

Marquez said only 12 of the 15 SC justices cast their votes because Senior Justice Antonio Carpio, and justices Carpio-Morales and Ma. Lourdes Sereno, did not participate in the voting.

The SC official explained that Section 1, Rule 8 of the JBC provides that it “shall give due weight and regard to the recommendees of the Supreme Court” in coming up with the shortlist.

He said the JBC will also deliberate on the vacancies in the SC in its meeting on June 20.

The SC has set the retirement ceremonies for justices Nachura and Carpio-Morales on June 10 and 17, respectively. The other candidates are: CA justices Ramon Bato Jr., Apolinario Bruselas Jr., Rosemarie Carandang and Stephen Cruz; lawyer Tomas Cabili; Court of Tax Appeals Justice Juanito Castaneda Jr.; CA Justice Isaias Dicdican; law books author Francis Jardeleza and lawyers Eduardo Lizares and Sabino Padilla IV; Sandiganbayan Justice Alex Quiroz; businessman and Bar topnotcher Rodolfo Robles, Biñan, Laguna RTC Judge Marino Rubia, human rights advocate and Free Legal Assistance Group founder Pablito Sanidad, and deputy court administrator Nimfa Vilches.

Also nominated for the two posts were CA justices Hakim Abdulwahid, Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo, Japar Dimaampao, Remedios Salazar-Fernando, Portia Alino-Hormachuelos and Vicente Veloso; law professor and women’s right advocate Katrina Legarda, UP Law school Dean Raul Pangalangan, Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, University of the East College of Law Dean Amado Valdez, Sandiganbayan Justice Francisco Villaruz, and CTA Justice Lovell Bautista.                                                Under the Constitution, an associate justice of the SC could be appointed if he or she “is a natural born citizen, at least 40 years old, and must have been for fifteen years or more a judge of a lower court or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines.”

An additional and less precise constitutional requirement, however, provides that the appointee “must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence.” The JBC would focus on the second requirement in its selection process.