Despite legal cases, de Lima, Sarmiento still in the running for CJ

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) gave Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Commissioner Rene Sarmiento until July 30 to remove impediments to their quest for the post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.   "We will give them a chance until the day of voting which is July 30… If their cases don't get dismissed, we will not consider them anymore,” said Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., who is ex-officio JBC member representing the House of Representatives.   JBC member for the academe Jose Mejia concurred. "They will not be immediately disqualified because they will be given an opportunity to work on the dismissal of their cases. But if the cases don't get dismissed, they will not be included in the voting."   De Lima has two pending disbarment cases against her—one filed by Attorney Agustin Sundiam and the other by Attorney Ricardo Rivera.    Sundiam accused De Lima of publicly encouraging the bashing of Corona. Rivera, meanwhile, wanted her disbarred for her defiance of a Supreme Court-issued temporary restraining order allowing former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to travel abroad late last year.   Commissioner Sarmiento’s case before the Office of the Ombudsman dates back to the 2010 automated national elections. He was accused by Ma. Cristina Agustin and Nelson Selis of the Philippine Computer Society of involvement in an alleged anomalous purchase of computers. Section 5 of Rule 4 of the Rules of the JBC (JBC-009) bars a person from vying for posts in the judiciary and in the Office of the Ombudsman if he or she:   - has a pending criminal or regular administrative cases; - has a pending criminal cases in foreign courts or tribunals; and - has been convicted in any criminal case; or in an administrative case, where the penalty imposed is at least a fine of more than P10,000, unless he has been granted judicial clemency.   Also on the JBC long list of aspirants for Chief Justice are:   (From the Supreme Court)   - Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio - Associate JusticePresbitero Velasco Jr. - Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro - Associate Justice Arturo Brion - Associate Justice Roberto Abad - Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno   (Other former and current government officials)   - Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza - Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez - Chairman Andres Bautista of the Presidential Commission on Good Government - Securities and Exchange Commission Chairperson Teresita Herbosa - Retired Judge Manuel Siayngco Jr. - Former Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora   (From the academe)   - Raul Pangalangan, former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Law - Cesar Villanueva, former dean of the Ateneo de Manila Law School - Jose Manuel Diokno, founding dean of the De La Salle University College of Law - Amado Valdez, dean of the University of the East College of Law   (Other lawyers on the "long list")   - Atty. Katrina Legarda - Atty. Soledad Cagampang-De Castro - Atty. Rafael Morales - Atty. Vicente Velasquez  

Weighing youth and seniority President Benigno Aquino III was earlier reported to be favoring De Lima and Internal Revenue commissioner Kim Henares - both his appointees - to be the next chief justice.   Henares has declined her endorsement for the post.   Aquino has until August 27 to look for a new top judge. He has to choose from the short list the JBC will present to him.   If chosen by Aquino, De Lima, who turns 53 in August, would end up serving as chief justice for 17 years or until she reaches the retirement age of 70, even spanning two administrations after Aquino's.   But De Lima is not alone when it comes to being one of the youngest nominees. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, who is an Aquino-appointee like De Lima and is one of only three SC justices appointed by Aquino, just turned 52 last July 2, thereby opening up again the possibility of having the second longest serving chief justice in Philippine history.   Sen. Vicente Sotto III earlier in the week expressed reservations, saying it would mean that the next two presidents after Aquino would not be able to enjoy his or her authority to appoint his or her own chief justice.   The country's first-ever chief justice, Cayetano Arellano, still holds the record as the longest serving chief magistrate. He served in that post from June 1, 1901 to April 1, 1920.   Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda, on Friday, said he finds nothing wrong with installing a relatively young chief justice, even as he appealed to the public to change its notion that chief justices should always be near their retirement age. He cited as an example US Chief Justice John Roberts who was appointed at age 50.   “It does not require you to be near retirement before you can become Chief Justice. So let’s change our perspective —or the idea that someone should be near retirement before he is fit to serve as chief justice,” said Lacierda.   The JBC will have the long list for the chief justice post published in newspapers on Monday. It will start accepting on Tuesday comments and oppositions to the candidacy of any of the 22 aspirants. Public interviews of the candidates, meanwhile, will come next, and run from July 24 to 27.   Legal battles   In the middle of all the JBC work that members have to attend to are several petitions and letters either requesting a stop to the council's selection process or questioning the very composition of the JBC. Two of these came from Danilo Lihaylihay and Famela Dulay.    Lihaylihay wrote the JBC a letter asking it to suspend its search, pending the resolution of several petitions filed before the Supreme Court questioning the impeachment of Corona.   Dulay, meanwhile, filed a petition before the SC questioning Aquino's authority to appoint a chief justice. The Supreme Court earlier this week struck down Dulay's petition.   In the same ruling, the Supreme Court also settled the issue on who should preside over JBC deliberations in the absence of an ex-officio chairman. Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio currently sits as JBC ex-officio chairman but he had to inhibit from deliberations because he is a candidate to the chief justice post.   With Carpio temporarily out of the JBC meetings, the SC ruled that the next most senior justice who is not a candidate for the chief justice post will have to assume the presiding officer post. Incidentally, the next three most senior justices of the SC are also contending against Carpio, leaving Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta as the next qualified to preside over JBC matters.   Despite the SC clarification, however, Tupas seemed adamant in not having Peralta - who like the ousted Corona was an appointee of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo - lead the JBC selection process.   "The Dulay case has nothing to do with an associate justice presiding over the JBC. It is separate. It was mentioned as an obiter, meaning it is not binding upon us. The consensus of the council is that the acting chief justice should be the one presiding and not an associate justice," Tupas stressed.   He said that the part of the ruling on who should preside over the JBC was merely an "obiter dictum" or stated only in passing and not the "ratio decidendi" or the rationale for the decision. — ELR/HS, GMA News