Palace wants Jardeleza in SC shortlist

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is pushing for the inclusion of Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza in the shortlist of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for the vacancy in the Supreme Court (SC) left by the retirement of Associate Justice Roberto Abad last May.

In a five-page comment filed Friday, Malacañang supported the petition filed by Jardeleza questioning his exclusion from the shortlist submitted by the JBC due to questions on his integrity raised by its chair, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

Through Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Michael Aguinaldo, Malacañang asked the high court to compel the JBC to revise the shortlist and include Jardeleza who should have been in the list, if not for Sereno’s objection.

Specifically, Malacañang assailed Section 2, Rule 10 of the Internal Rules of the JBC, which was invoked by Sereno to block Jardeleza’s nomination and which requires unanimous vote of council members before nominees with integrity questions are shortlisted.

Malacañang agreed with Jardeleza – its chief counsel – that his right to due process was violated when he was not given a chance to rebut the allegations against him.

“Notably, Section 2, Rule 10 does not allow a candidate/applicant any meaningful opportunity to refute the claims against him,” it stressed.

This rule, Malacañang pointed out, also “appears to impair the collegial character of the JBC.”

“Being a collegial body, the JBC acts on the basis of majority rule, as provided in Section 1, Rule 10 of JBC-009. On the other hand, Section 2, Rule 10 of JBC-009 required that when the integrity of an applicant is challenged, ‘the affirmative vote of all the members of the Council must be obtained for the favorable consideration of his nomination,’” it argued.

It has been over a month since the JBC submitted the shortlist to the President who has not yet made an appointment, but which should be done by Aug. 20 or 90 days from the vacancy last May 22.

In his 14-page petition for certiorari and mandamus last month, Jardeleza sought issuance of temporary restraining order enjoining Malacañang “to desist from appointing the associate justice pending determination of merits of this case.”

Apart from the immediate relief, Jardeleza also asked the SC to exercise its power of review and order his inclusion in the shortlist before the President could make the appointment.

Jardeleza said the JBC committed grave abuse of discretion in excluding him from the shortlist despite garnering enough votes to be in it reportedly due to an integrity question raised by Sereno during the final deliberations.

Petitioner pointed out he was qualified to be shortlisted after securing four out of six votes from the JBC, the same number garnered by another nominee who made it to the list, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Reynaldo Daway.

He stressed that since he was qualified and the decision to appoint lies with the President, his inclusion in the shortlist should have been mandatory and ministerial on the part of the council tasked to vet nominees for judicial posts.

Jardeleza also argued that the JBC shortlist should be voided since there was violation of his constitutional right to due process.

The six members of the constitutional council chaired by Sereno handpicked Court of Appeals Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas and Jose Reyes Jr., Commission on Audit (COA) Chair Gracia Pulido-Tan and Judge Daway from 13 aspirants.

The JBC excluded him even if he garnered enough votes to make it to the shortlist.

Reports attributed the incident to a rivalry between Jardeleza and Sereno who belonged to opposing blocs in the University of the Philippines College of Law.

Jardeleza belonged to the bloc of UP dean Danilo Concepcion, former UP dean Raul Pangalangan and Harry Roque while Sereno’s bloc in UP are all now in the high court, including former UP dean and now SC Justice Marvic Leonen, former UP professor and now SC Public Information Office chief and assistant court administrator Theodore Te and former energy secretary Jose Lotilla.