SC justice retires; JBC sets vote

MANILA, Philippines – Supreme Court Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr. has retired from the judiciary.

He was given retirement rites at the Manila Hotel yesterday.

Villarama availed himself of early retirement due to deteriorating health following double knee implantation surgery in 2013 and a cataract operation in 2014.

He started his career in the SC as a technical assistant in 1970. He rose from the ranks to become a regional trial court judge in 1986, and then a Court of Appeals associate justice in 1998 before his appointment as SC justice in 2009.

He was supposed to retire upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 on April 14, a period covered by the ban on appointments during the election period.

The positions of chief justice and justices of the SC are exempted from the ban per the SC’s 2010 ruling on vacancies following the retirement of then chief justice Reynato Puno.

President Aquino had questioned the ruling, and his position was supposed to be tested by the vacancy to be left by Villarama’s retirement in April.

With the vacancy now outside the period for midnight appointment ban, Aquino may now name his sixth appointee to the SC without any issue.

Of the 15 current justices, five were appointed by Aquino – Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Associate Justices Bienvenido Reyes, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Marvic Leonen and Francis Jardeleza.

The Judicial and Bar Council conducted public interviews of 16 aspirants for the SC vacancy last week.

Last Jan. 7, the JBC interviewed Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas, Rosmari Carandang, Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo; Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang and Associate Justice Maria Cristina Cornejo; Justice Secretary Alfredo

Benjamin Caguioa; Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard Mosquera; Citizen’s Battle Against Corruption Rep. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales and former University of Manila law dean Joe-Santos Bisquera.

On Jan. 8, CA Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr., Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Stephen Cruz, Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Alex Quiroz, Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, former Commission on Audit (COA) chairman Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan and Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 90 presiding judge Reynaldo Daway faced the JBC.

JBC member Jose Mejia said they are set to deliberate on the vacancy and vote on a shortlist to be submitted to Malacañang on Monday.

The Constitution requires a justice of the SC to be a natural-born citizen, at least 40 years old, with at least 15 years of experience as judge of a lower court or lawyer.

The law also requires that the justice be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence.

Caguioa, President Aquino’s former chief legal counsel and classmate from elementary to college, is said to be the top contender for the SC post.

In his JBC interview, he said Aquino cannot be held accountable for the Disbursement Acceleration Program after his term ends in June.

Caguioa took up economics and later law at the Ateneo de Manila University, where he was a classmate of Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares and Sen. Teofisto Guingona III.