COA chair on nomination to SC: I'm up for the job

Commission on Audit Chairperson Grace Pulido-Tan on Friday said it is an honor to be nominated as an associate justice of the Supreme Court but said her perceived closeness to the President will not be a factor in the selection process.

Tan said in a report on "State of the Nation with Jessica Soho" aired Friday night that the has accepted her nomination to the post that Supreme Court Associate Justice Roberto Abad will vacate in May.

Tan, who has locked horns with Senator Jinggoy Estrada in an ongoing investigation into alleged irregularities in the use of the discretionary Priority Development Assistance Fund, said she is qualified for the post since she has been in the private law practice for more than 20 years.

"When I went into government, the kind of work that I handled were very legal in nature," she said.

According to the COA website, Tan first joined the government as a commissioner in the Presidential Commission on Good Government in 2012, where she took charge of the management of sequestered assets as well as the commission's finances.

In 2003, she was appointed an undersecretary at the Finance department, where she supervised the operations of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, and the One Stop Shop Duty Drawback Center. 

"She also headed the department’s Task Force on Revenue Measures, and shepherded the enactment of several tax measures into law," COA said on its website.

Tan said the special audit on the PDAF was a review of the law that gave her perspective and experience that will help her in case she is appointed to the Supreme Court.



Tan, whom President Benigno Aquino III appointed as head of the Commission on Audit in 2011, said, though, that her perceived closeness to Malacañang will not guarantee that she will be selected to sit on the Supreme Court.

"I dont think I'm a Palace favorite. Lahat naman dadaan sa scrutiny ng [Judicial and Bar Council], sa merito lang nagkakaiba," she said in a part of the interview that was not aired.

The JBC, which is chaired by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, is composed of the Justice Secretary, the chairs of the justice committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, a retired SC justice, a representative from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and representatives from the private sector and academe.

It is tasked with screening nominees to the judiciary and coming out with a shortlist of nominees that the President can choose from.

Tan is one of 14 nominees to the post . Also on the list are Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, seven Court of Appeals justices, two Sandiganbayan justices, a regional trial court judge, a dean of the De La Salle University-College of Law, and a COA commissioner.

The seven CA justices nominated were:

• Nina Antonio-Valenzuela
• Apolinario Bruselas
• Rosemarie Carandang
• Ramon Paul Hernando
• Andres Reyes Jr
• Jose Reyes
• Noel Tijam

The candidates from the Sandiganbayan are Associate Justices Maria Cristina Cornejo and Rafael Lagos.

Meanwhile, Reynaldo Daway, presiding judge at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 90, is the lone trial court judge vying for the position.

DLSU Law dean Jose Manuel Diokno is also vying for the post while another COA official, Commissioner Rowena Guanzon, has also applied for the position. — JDS, GMA News