'Noy prefers De Lima to stay as DOJ chief'

MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III would want Secretary Leila de Lima to stay in the Department of Justice (DOJ), a Malacañang official said Monday.

"The secretary of justice and [Internal Revenue chief] Kim Henares are important assets in his (President Aquino's) administration. His initial preference was for them to stay," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said at a briefing in Malacañang.

Lacierda, however, said that President Aquino had to respect De Lima's decision to accept her nomination to the judiciary's top postition. Henares, meanwhile, has officially decline her nomination.

The presidential spokesperson, meanwhile, brushed aside speculations that President Aquino would favor De Lima's nomination for chief justice.

He also denied that President Aquino has assured De Lima that she would be nominated to the post.

De Lima had announced that she accepted her nomination for chief justice after a brief talk with President Aquino on Friday. The justice secretary announced her decision to accept her nomination on Sunday.

“I had a brief talk with the President wherein he said he will respect my decision to accept the nomination for chief justice,” De Lima said.

Lacierda said that President Aquino would not be able to make sure that the position will go to De Lima, since she, like any other nominees and applicants, will go through the Judicial and Bar Council's (JBC) strict selection process.

"You cannot have the assurance because she has to go through a JBC screening," he said.

As the submission of nominations and applications ends on Monday (July 2) , a total of 71 people have been nominated for chief justice. Of the figure, 22 accepted their nominations and 21 declined.

The JBC's deadline for the submission of nominations and applications for chief justice ends Monday (July 2). It said it will make public its list of nominees by Friday. The names that will be announced will go through the JBC's public interview.

Sen. Francis Escudero, a member of the JBC, said that the council will submit the shortlist to President Aquino by July 30.

Lacierda, meanwhile, said that De Lima need not resign from her position during the JBC's screening process.

"We don't think so. The business of the DOJ is too important to be left to an underling," he said when asked if De Lima should resign after accepting her nomination.

He added that preparing for the public interview would not take too much of De Lima's time, since it would "only involve questions of law."

De Lima is among the most prominent candidate for chief justice along with an Aquino appointee, SC Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.

She has the most number of nominations received by the JBC.

She was endorsed by Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) founding chairman Dante Jimenez; chairperson of the executive council of the Bangsamoro Party (BMP) and Lanao Sultan Firdausi Abbas; Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)- Zambales president Christopher Lawrence Monato, Civil Service assistant commissioner Rogelio Limare; former defense secretary Avelino Cruz; Court of Appeals Associate Justice Francisco Acosta, and lawyer Reynaldo Bagatsing.

Although she has no experience in the judiciary and is considered an “outsider” in the SC, the nominations cited her “utmost competence, diligence, probity and independence.”

President Aquino is reportedly considering appointing an outsider in the judiciary as the next chief justice.