Carpio says appointment of SC justices shouldn’t be left to presidents

Retired Supreme Court (SC) justice Antonio Carpio has called for a revision of the 1987 Constitution to limit the president’s power to appoint the members of the country’s highest tribunal.

Carpio proposed that appointments to the SC should be divided equally among the president, Congress and the SC. The SC is composed of 15 justices.

“You have to maintain a balance,” Carpio told “The Mangahas Interviews,” adding it is important to keep the SC as an independent institution.

At present, only the president has the authority to name justices and judges following a thorough screening by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), a multi-sectoral nominating body headed by the chief justice.  

“We never expected that one president can appoint almost all [justices of] the Supreme Court,” said Carpio, who left the SC in 2019.

Carpio also suggested a fixed term without reappointment for JBC members.

Eleven out of the 14 sitting magistrates, including Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, are appointees of President Rodrigo Duterte. The 15th seat has yet to be filled up as the selection process is still ongoing.

Duterte was able to fill most of the seats on the Court due to retirements. A vacancy, meanwhile, was created following the ouster of then Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in 2018.

Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who served as chief executive for more than nine years, left Malacañang in June 2010 with an SC dominated by her appointees.

“Democracy is not perfect. We have to improve,” Carpio said. -MDM, GMA News