Gibo Teodoro among CJ nominees

MANILA, Philippines - Losing 2010 presidential candidate Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro has been nominated to the Chief Justice post.

Teodoro, a cousin of President Benigno Aquino III, topped the Bar exams in 1989. He is also a passer of the 1997 New York State Bar exams.

The losing presidential candidate was among the 40 names submitted to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) as nominees for chief justice, as of Monday.

Also nominated to the post was former San Juan City Rep. Ronaldo Zamora.

The JBC has extended to July 2 the the submission of nominees and application for chief justice.

The supposed deadline for the nominations and applications for the post was Monday, June 18.

The JBC said that this would allow more names to be passed. The council has also extended its deadline for the submission of a short list of candcidates to President Aquino to July 30.

The other fresh nominees to the post were Supreme Court Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Barnabe and Prof. Soledad Cagampang de Castro.

The list of nominees has been trimmed down following the disqualification of two nominees and the decision of others to decline nomination.

A nurse named Jocelyn Esquivel was expected to be disqualified since the Constitution requires that a chief justice must be a lawyer who had served as judge for at least 15 years.

Another nominee, Hilarion Aquino, will be delisted since he is already 80 years old. The mandatory requirement age for SC justices is 70.

Laguna Assistant State Prosecutor Cesar Sasondoncillo, meanwhile, has reportedly declined his nomination.

Lawyer Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra, acting SC spokesperson, said the JBC will publish the names of the nominees in a newspaper of national circulation and set dates for their oral interview.

Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and four other senior justices of the High Tribunal - Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion and Diosdado Peralta - were automatically nominated for the post under JBC rules.

Associate Justices Jose Perez, Roberto Abad, and Maria Lourdes Sereno, the first appointee of President Aquino to the SC, were also nominated for chief magistrate.

Other nominees are Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares, and Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza.

Also nominated to the SC post are elections commissioner Rene Sarmiento, former solicitor general Francisco Chavez, retired judge Manuel Siayngco Jr., Rodolfo Robles, Pedro Aquino, Nepomuceno Aparis, Katrina Legarda and Integrated Bar of the Philippines president Roan Libarios.

Members of academe nominated for the top SC post include Ateneo de Manila University College of Law Dean Cesar Villanueva, University of the Philippines College of Law Dean Raul Pangalangan, University of the East College of Law Dean Amado Valdez, law professor Rafael Morales, former UP law dean Marvic Leonen and former Makati City congressman Teodoro Locsin Jr.

Aside from Legarda, Pangalangan and Morales, all nominees have yet to accept their nomination. - Edu Punay