CA's Baltazar-Padilla appointed SC associate justice

Court of Appeals Justice Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla has been appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. announced Thursday.

Baltazar-Padilla will fill in the seat vacated by former Associate Justice Andres Reyes, who retired on May 11.

In the Judicial and Bar Council's (JBC) first online public panel interview, Baltazar-Padilla said Congress cannot be compelled to grant a franchise to any entity "because franchise is a mere privilege" and "cannot be demanded as a matter of right."

She added that a joint resolution by Congress is not the proper remedy in the case of shuttered broadcast network ABS-CBN Corp. because "what is required is a law and not a mere resolution."

Under the JBC's revised rules, applicants for the position of SC associate or chief justice must have at least 2.5 years left in service if they previously served as associate justice or presiding justice of an appellate court, court administrator, chairperson of a constitutional commission, solicitor general, or department secretary.

Applicants who are private practitioners or had not served in any of the said positions should have at least five years left in service. -Julia Mari Ornedo/MDM, GMA News