JBC sets public interviews for 13 SC aspirants

MANILA, Philippines - The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) will conduct in late October public interviews for the new associate justice of the Supreme Court (SC).

The position was left vacant with the appointment of Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice last Aug. 24.

In an announcement published yesterday in The STAR, the JBC said the interviews of the 12 aspirants, led by government peace panel chair Marvic Leonen, will be conducted at the division hearing room on the ground floor of the new building of the SC.

Scheduled to be interviewed on Oct. 23 are Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Ramon Bato Jr., former University of Perpetual Help System Law dean Joe-Santos Bisquera, CA Associate Justice Rosemarie Carandang, and Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Maria Cristina Cornejo.

Meanwhile, Leonen, former Regional Trial Court Judge Adoracion Cruz-Avisado, CA Associate Justice Magdangal de Leon, CA Associate Justice Isaias Dicdican, former energy secretary Raphael Lotilla, who served under the previous administration, CA Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr., CA Associate Justice Jose Reyes Jr., and CA Associate Justice Noel Tijam will be interviewed on Oct. 25.

Tijam wrote the decision upholding the constitutionality of President Aquino’s Executive Order 2 issued on July 30, 2010, revoking the so-called midnight appointments of his predecessor.

The three other candidates for the SC post – De La Salle University College of Law dean Jose Manuel Diokno, Securities and Exchange Commission chair Teresita Herbosa and former Ateneo Law dean Cesar Villanueva – had already been interviewed last July when they were vying for the position of chief justice.