JBC shortlists 6 for Supreme Court vacancy

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has come up with a shortlist of candidates for a Supreme Court (SC) vacancy that will be created by the retirement of Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo on July 29.

The screening council shortlisted CA justices Apolinario Bruselas, Jr., Japar Dimaampao, Ramon Garcia, Jhosep Lopez, Rodil Zalameda, and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, the Supreme Court's Public Information Office announced on Friday.

The JBC recommends candidates to judiciary posts for appointment by the president.

The six shortlisted applicants bested 17 other contenders for the vacancy, a roster that included Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, Sandiganbayan Associate Justices Efren Dela Cruz and Alex Quiroz, and several other magistrates of the appeals court.

The application process for the Del Castillo vacancy was the first to require a decision-writing exam for the aspirants. One item in the test was a lawyer’s petition for the legalization of same-sex marriage in the country.

The candidate who will replace Del Castillo will be President Rodrigo Duterte's 10th appointee as an associate justice of the High Court. He has so far appointed two chief justices: Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, who retired last year, and Lucas Bersamin, who will retire this October.

The President's latest appointee was Henri Jean Paul Inting, a former CA justice and the brother of Comelec commissioner Socorro Inting. Under the 1987 Constitution, a vacancy in the SC has to be filled within 90 days. — MDM, GMA News