The Judicial and Bar Council’s (JBC) move to amend its own rules while in the process of selecting nominees for the chief justice position may "erode" the council’s credibility, the Supreme Court Appointments Watch (SCAW) warned.
 
In a letter sent to JBC on Monday, SCAW said: “The amendment or suspension of the JBC rules during an ongoing search process will only be perceived as giving in to political pressure to favor certain candidates.”
 
“A rule-change in the midst of the vetting of nominees will certainly erode the credibility of the JBC and will put into serious question the integrity of the very process itself,” the watchdog group noted.
 
This came after Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas, Jr. revealed that JBC’s ex officio member for the Executive Branch, Undersecretary Michael Frederick Musngi, made a motion to suspend the JBC's rule barring the selection of candidates with pending criminal or administrative cases.

The rule was the basis for the disqualification of chief justice aspirants Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, and Securities and Exchange Commission chief Teresita Herbosa.
 
The council has yet to act on Musngi’s motion.
 
“The SCAW believes that at the heart of rebuilding credibility within the judiciary is a transparent and consistent application of the rules in the nomination and selection of our magistrates. Thus, the JBC cannot play [fast and] loose with its rule,” the group said.
 
The watchdog group explained that the JBC may consider amending its disqualification rules, but only after the current selection process.
 
“The SCAW calls [on] … the JBC to uphold the trust bestowed upon them by the public by asserting their independence and defending the integrity of the search process for a new Chief justice of the Supreme Court,” the letter read. - BM, GMA News