15 vying for SC seat

MANILA, Philippines - The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has reported that all 15 candidates have qualified and have been included in the list of nominees for the lone vacancy in the Supreme Court (SC).

Lawyer Jose Mejia, regular member of the JBC representing the academe, said all bets met the requirements and would be subjected to final selection next Wednesday.

“We will vote on Nov. 7 for the shortlist of at least three names. President Aquino has until Nov. 22 to make the appointment, so he will have enough time for that,” Mejia said in a text message.

The appointee will fill the vacancy left by the promotion of Ma. Lourdes Sereno to chief justice last August and complete the composition of the high court.

Nine of the 15 aspirants are insiders in the judiciary: Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. and CA Associate Justices Ramon Bato Jr., Rosmari Carandang, Magdangal de Leon, Isaias Dicdican, Jose Reyes Jr. and Noel Tijam; Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Ma. Cristina Cornejo; and former regional trial court Judge Adoracion Cruz-Avisado.

The other six are outsiders: former University of Perpetual Help System law dean Jose-Santos Bisquera, government peace panel chair and former University of the Philippines law dean Marvic Leonen, former energy secretary Raphael Lotilla, De La Salle University law dean Jose Manuel Diokno, Securities and Exchange Commission chair Teresita Herbosa, and former Ateneo law dean Cesar Villanueva.

Mejia said all 15 aspirants have complied with the requirements, including the submission of their statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) and waiver for disclosure of bank assets. They were also screened in public interviews.

The eight-member constitutional body tasked to screen nominees to posts in the judiciary and Office of the Ombudsman had looked into the financial records of the candidates and saw nothing questionable, Mejia said.

The new requirement was adopted by the JBC during its selection process for the chief justice last June as an additional test of the integrity and fitness of nominees following the ouster of former chief justice Renato Corona last May due to undeclared assets.

The bets faced the JBC in public interviews last Oct. 23 and 25. They were quizzed on issues involving the controversial cybercrime prevention law, Reproductive Health bill, and the Bangsamoro framework agreement.

Mejia, however, admitted that the council has yet to decide on the proposed amendment of their rule for automatic disqualification of candidates with pending administrative or criminal cases, which they applied in the case of fellow JBC member and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in her bid for the chief justice post.

“There’s no decision yet on that. I’m not sure also if it will be relevant to this position, if any of the aspirants has a pending case,” he explained.

Sereno chairs the JBC whose members include Mejia, De Lima, Senate justice committee chair Francis Escudero, House justice committee chair and Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., lawyer Milagros Fernan-Cayosa from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, retired SC Justice Regino Hermosisima, and retired Court of Appeals justice Aurora Lagman.

The Constitution requires an SC justice to be a natural-born citizen, at least 40 years old, and to have 15 years or more experience as a judge of a lower court or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines.

A more crucial qualification is that a justice “must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence.”