SC starts tackling chief justice issue

The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) 10 days to comment on the consolidated petitions raising several issues on the appointment of the next chief justice. This was after the SC tackled the separate petitions filed by Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa), and lawyers Arturo de Castro, Estelito Mendoza, and Jaime Soriano during its regular en banc session. The same order was likewise given to the Office of the Solicitor General, which is representing the government. Chief Justice Reynato Puno will retire on May 17. Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the court summarized the petitions into two issues: whether the JBC can withhold transmission of shortlist, and in effect has the power to determine whether President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can appoint Puno’s successor; and, whether President Arroyo can still appoint the next chief justice upon Puno’s retirement despite the election ban. Under the Constitution, an incumbent president is prohibited from making appointments 60 days before elections. Applied this year, the appointment ban will start on March 11 and will stay in effect until President Arroyo's term ends on June 30. Philconsa, a group of constitutionalists, however, said the election ban in the Constitution covers only appointments in the executive department and not in the judiciary. JBC is the body that screens nominees for vacant judicial posts. Since Puno is an ex-officio chairman of the eight-man council, he is one of the respondents and will have to inhibit from ruling on the case as a magistrate. The JBC had considered five nominees for Puno’s replacement: Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Renato Corona, Eduardo Nachura, and Presbitero Velasco Jr. Nachura and Velasco had declined to be included in the list, saying only the three most senior justices – Carpio, Corona, and Morales – should be nominated. Both Carpio and Morales, however, said they were both willing to be appointed as Puno’s successor, but on the condition that the next President would do the appointment. - KBK, GMANews.TV