Questions hound new Sandigan appointments

MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino’s appointment of six associate justices in two new branches of the Sandiganbayan last week might have violated the Constitution, two insiders in the judiciary told The STAR yesterday.

Requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, the sources said the Constitution requires the President to choose the appointee to a judicial post from a shortlist submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council.

Aquino did not follow  this requirement, according to the insiders.

In October last year, the JBC submitted to Malacañang six separate shortlists for each of the vacancies in the Sandiganbayan.

Last week, Aquino named six new justices of the anti-graft court: Assistant Solicitor General Karl Miranda, Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno’s staff Zaldy Trespeses, Malacañang Undersecretary Reynaldo Cruz, Undersecretary for Special

Concerns Michael Frederick Musngi and judges Geraldine Faith Econg and Ma. Theresa Mendoza-Arcega.

However, The STAR learned that Musngi and Econg belonged to the same shortlist.

In one of the shortlists that the JBC had submitted, none of the nominees –  judges Philip Aguinaldo, Reynaldo Alhambra, Danilo Cruz, Benjamin Pozon, Danilo Sandoval and Salvador Timbang Jr. – was chosen.

“There might be a violation there because the Constitution requires the President to choose the appointee from the shortlist submitted by the JBC, and that there should be one shortlist per vacancy or per

position,” one of the sources said.

The other insider wondered why Chief Justice Sereno, chairman of the seven-member JBC, did not even bother to check on this issue and allowed such violation.

“The JBC used to assert its independence in the previous administration where it refused to heed to the demand of Malacañang to change its shortlist for a Supreme Court vacancy,” the source said.

The SC could question and void the appointments if the constitutional violation could be proven, the two insiders said.

The sources also cited the case of   Arcega, whom The STAR has confirmed   to have a pending administrative case before the SC when she was appointed Sandiganbayan justice last week.

Details of the case were not bared due  to the confidential nature of administrative cases in the judiciary.

While the Office of the Court Administrator has recommended the dismissal of the case against Arcega, the SC has not decided yet on the case, making it still pending.

However, the sources said the JBC has discretion to nominate for higher post judges who have pending administrative cases “depending on their nature and stage.”

The vacancies in the Sandiganbayan arose after President Aquino signed in April last year Republic Act 10660, an act strengthening the functional and structural organization of the Sandiganbayan.

Originally, the court had three divisions until it expanded to five divisions of three members each in March 1995.

Under the new law, the anti-graft court will now have seven divisions with three members per division or a total of 21 justices.