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Corona impeach lawyer opposes De Lima as CJ, Tupas as JBC member
By MARK MERUEÑAS, GMA News
A lawyer of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona on Friday opposed both the nomination of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for chief justice and the membership of Ioilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. in the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).
In a statement accompanying his seven-page letter of opposition, Atty. Rico Paolo Quicho, who was Corona's legal counsel and spokesperson in the latter's impeachment trial, appealed to the JBC to stop the "BS" or the "bantay Salakay" from plaguing the ongoing selection of the next chief justice.
"I took the first formal step in doing away with the BS, the “Bantay-Salakay,” that have, seemingly by design, found their away in the selection process for the next chief justice," Quicho said.
"We cannot cherry-pick our morality. The same lofty legal and moral standards that were applied in unseating a chief justice should likewise be bases in naming a new one," he added. As of posting time, GMA News Online has yet to receive a response from De Lima and Tupas regarding Quicho's opposition. Opposition letter
In his opposition letter to the JBC, Quicho first asked for the disqualification of De Lima, who is one of 22 candidates scheduled to be interviewed by the council tasked to select Corona's replacement. The public interviews will start on July 24.
"She does not possess the qualities of competence, integrity, probity and independence as made apparent by the facts surrounding her two disbarment cases," Quicho said.
De Lima has two pending disbarment cases against her—one filed by Attorney Agustin Sundiam and the other by Attorney Ricardo Rivera.
Sundiam accused De Lima of publicly encouraging the bashing of Corona. Rivera, meanwhile, wanted her disbarred for her defiance of a Supreme Court-issued temporary restraining order allowing former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to travel abroad late last year.
"The moral fitness of a judge also reflects his moral fitness as a lawyer. A judge who disobeys the basic rules of judicial conduct also violates his oath as a lawyer and this can be expected in the reverse," Quicho said.
The JBC earlier had agreed not to yet to take De Lima's disbarment cases into consideration at this point of the selection process.
The council said it wanted to give De Lima time to have the disbarment cases against her dismissed.
In case the disbarment cases are not resolved by the time the JBC votes for the shor tlist, De Lima would be automatically disqualified, the JBC added.
In his letter of opposition, Quicho also said De Lima's public pronouncements criticizing the Supreme Court for having "Arroyo justices" and her testifying in Corona's impeachment trial in February "put into serious doubt... her cold neutrality as member of the [JBC]."
Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed all Supreme Court justices, except for three: Justices Ma. Lourdes Sereno, Bienvenido Reyes, and Estela Perlas-Bernabe.
Tupas inhibition
In the same letter to the JBC, Quicho also asked Tupas to follow in the footsteps of JBC ex-officio chairman Antonio Carpio and ex-officio member De Lima, who both inhibited from the JBC due to their respective bids for the chief justice post.
Quicho said Tupas' participation in the impeachment trial of Corona as lead prosecutor has "tainted him indelibly with the colors of politics."
"Cong. Tupas is a partisan participating in a process which the Constitution had envisioned to be devoid of partisan politics," Tupas said.
"Cong. Tupas cannot be expected to act with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency in performing his duty as a JBC member," Corona's impeachment lawyer added.
Quicho assured the JBC that even if it decides to take De Lima and Tupas out of their respective nomination and membership, the selection process would still not be hampered.
"Surely, there is not a dearth of good men and women from whose ranks the next chief justice of the land may be selected; and not a scarcity of competent and impartial men and women to participate in the selection. There are several names in the list of nominees," Quicho said.
In stressing Tupas' inhibition, Quicho said Sen. Francis Escudero — Tupas' counterpart JBC ex-officio member representing the Senate — "sufficiently satisfies" the requirement for a member of Congress to be represented in the JBC. Escudero served as senator-judge in the trial. He voted for Corona's conviction.
"Striking Sec. De Lima off the list of nominees and having Cong. Tupas voluntarily inhibit from the selection will not hurt the process," he said.
"On the contrary, it will infuse credibility and respectability where these may, for one reason or another, already be lacking," Quicho added — RSJ, GMA News
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