CJ nominee Villanueva: I’m not exactly an outsider

Former Ateneo Law Dean and current head of Governance Commissions for GOCCs (GCG) Atty. Cesar L. Villanueva Thursday said that while he isn’t in the judiciary, he doesn’t consider himself exactly as an outsider. 

 

“When an outsider gets appointed in the Supreme Court, he, in that moment, becomes an insider,” he added.  

Villanueva was the 16th nominee to be interviewed by the Judicial and Bar Council. He said it would be easy for him to work with the judiciary, as a lot of them have been his students. 

 

However, he also said that because the vacancy has been created through an impeachment, perhaps getting a technical outsider is what the court needs right now.

 

Throughout the nearly 2 hour interview, Villanueva shared his visions for the judiciary, particularly, that the high court should work closely with other government institutions to weed out corruption.

 

Like several nominees before him, Villanueva decried the low salaries of court workers and the small budget with which the judiciary has to work with. 

 

“If the judiciary is really one of three co-equal branches of government, then it deserves more than one or two percent of the National Budget,” he said.

 

“If we want to have a quality justice system, justices should be well paid,” he said. He also suggested the Supreme Court should strengthen its education and training arm. 

 

Villanueva said he recognized that corruption in the judiciary is bad, and called for it to be addressed. 

 

“There has to be zero tolerance,” he said.

 

Villanueva said that the SC should be more than just a “trier” of facts and a constitutional court, though it should fulfill that function.

 

“[The SC] should usher in the good life of our people,” he said. “How can people ask for democracy if they are starving?” he added.

 

On another tack, Villanueva conveyed his opinion on law fraternities. 

 

“Don't outlaw fraternities in law schools but give students fair competition for other organizations,” he said. He also mentioned that he himself is a member of a fraternity.

 

Should he be appointed Chief Justice, he plans “to unite the Supreme Court and to do a strategy road map.” He said that he will work with the Supreme Court as a whole and with the appellate courts in particular. 

 

“We should also try to recruit the best and the brightest,” he added. — DVM, GMA News