GMA to consider paid ad on shortlist of Supreme Court chief nominees

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo will take as “input” a paid advertisement urging the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) not to submit to her a shortlist of candidates to succeed Chief Justice Reynato Puno, Malacañang said yesterday.

Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar was commenting on the full-page ad “Tyranny of Guile” placed by some 50 prominent political and business personalities, including former senators Vicente Paterno and Leticia Ramos-Shahani and former finance chief Cesar Purisima.

“Everyone is entitled to come up with his own opinion on this issue as the President receives many opinions on what she should do regarding the vacancy at the Supreme Court,” Olivar said.

“Ads like this again are the inputs she will consider when she makes a decision if she will receive the nominations from the JBC.”

Olivar said it was up to the JBC when it wants to send its list of nominees for Puno’s successor.

“We have our own roles to play and she will listen to all inputs on this issue,” he said.

Olivar could not say whether Mrs. Arroyo would name Puno’s successor, whether or not the JBC submits a shortlist.

“The President obviously reserves the right and responsibility to make whatever decision may be required once that day comes, and one of the contingencies is whether or not she will already have a list from JBC,” he said.

Lacson judge nominated to CA

The Manila judge who ordered the arrest of Sen. Panfilo Lacson in connection with the Dacer-Corbito murders has been nominated for one of three vacancies in the Court of Appeals by the JBC.

However, Court administrator Midas Marquez, Supreme Court spokesman, said Judge Myra Garcia-Fernandez of Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 18 submitted herself to the JBC deliberations for the CA vacancies prior to the issuance of the arrest warrant against Lacson.

“She filed her application way, way ahead of the issuance of the arrest warrant and it has nothing to do with the Lacson case,” he said.

“She has been an outstanding judge and she really deserves to be in the shortlist.”

Marquez said the JBC screens nominees and applicants to judicial posts based on their qualifications, not on any political consideration.

Fernandez applied for the positions left by the retirement of Justice Monina Zeñarosa and appointments of Justices Lucas Bersamin and Mariano del Castillo to the Supeme Court.

The other eight nominees are: Makati RTC Judge Selma Alaras, Manila RTC Judge Reynaldo Alhambra, Pasig RTC Judge Abraham Boreta, Pasay RTC Judge Pedro Corrales, Marikina RTC Judge Alice Castaneda-Gutierrez, Calapan City Judge Manuel Luna Jr., Manila RTC Judge Eduardo Peralta Jr., and Las Piñas RTC Judge Raul Villanueva.

Also yesterday, the JBC came up with a shortlist for the vacancy of associate justice in the Sandiganbayan following the retirement of acting Presiding Justice Ma. Cristina Estrada.

The four nominated to the anti-graft court are Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Lea Armamento, Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Tang, Assistant Solicitor General Renan Ramos and Makati Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Maria Cristina Cornejo.

Corona denies allegations of bribery

SC Justice Renato Corona yesterday denied allegations of impropriety against him.

In a letter to the JBC, Corona described as a “vicious lie” and “malicious and outright lies” the charge of lawyer Fernando Campos that he had accepted free airline tickets to Las Vegas to watch Manny Pacquiao’s fight there in May last year.

Corona said he was not bribed into dismissing a case Campos filed against the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and PhilWeb Corp. over the operation of online cockfight betting.

“I paid for any trip, using my own personal funds,” he said, citing a receipt dated April 29, 2009.

“Since 2002, my wife and I have always used the May summer recess of the Court to visit our daughter and her family in the United States, with or without a Pacquiao fight.

“It is unfortunate that, in their quest to control the judiciary, some people have no qualms about destroying the reputation of those they perceive to be stumbling blocks to their ambition.

“Why the special interest in pinning me down as ‘sole author’ of the assailed resolutions, while readily absolving another member of the First Division who participated in the dismissal of G.R. No. 186711?

“Who breached the rule of confidentiality and colluded with Campos in filing this complaint against me? Was Campos’ ‘reliable source’ a member of the First Division?” he asked.   – Paolo Romero, Edu Punay