Carpio, SC justices lead Chief Justice shortlist

MANILA, Philippines - The Judicial and Bar Council on Monday included eight nominees in its shortlist for the next chief justice to be submitted to President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

Shortlisted were acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, and Justices Roberto Abad, Arturo Brion, Maria Lourdes Sereno and Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, former San Juan Congressman Ronaldo Zamora, and former Ateneo law dean Cesar Villanueva.

Carpio got seven votes, while Abad, Brion, Jardeleza, Sereno, Zamora garnered six votes each and De Castro and Villanueva received five votes.

Meawhile, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is excluded from the shortlist after being disqualified by the Judicial and Bar Council, a panel member said on Monday.

Atty. Jose Mejia, JBC member representing the academe, said the panel disqualified de Lima after the panel members' deliberation this morning.

De Lima is facing three disbarment cases before the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

One of the cases involves her alleged defiance of the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court on the justice department's hold departure order against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The SC's TRO allowed Mrs. Arroyo and some members of her household to travel abroad and seek medical treatment for her condition.

VACC vs. Carpio

Meanwhile, members of an anti-crime advocacy group on Monday trooped to the SC building in Manila to protest the court's dismissal of the disbarment case against Carpio.

Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) members protested the decision of the SC to dismiss the case against Carpio, one of the nominees for the chief justice post.

VACC founding chairman Dante Jimenez said Carpio was one of the witnesses of Hubert Webb, the principal accused in the Vizconde massacre case.

In a radio interview, Jimenez alleged that Carpio had already a biased opinion on the case when the SC overturned the guilty verdict by the Parañaque Regional Trial Court against the accused in the multiple murder case.

The disbarment case was filed by Lauro Vizconde.

VACC members also trooped to the SC building to wait for the chief justice shortlist by the JBC.