Wanted: Chief Justice

With just one year to go before he reaches the 70 years old mandatory age of retirement for members of the judiciary, “acting” Supreme Court Chief Justice Antonio Carpio is looking forward to preside on the selection for the replacement of ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

The seven-man Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) started the search for a new Chief Justice following the SC decision on the quo warranto petition against Sereno that became final and executory last June 19.

As “acting” chief magistrate, Carpio is the ex officio chairman of JBC – the constitutional body empowered to screen and vet judges and justices from the lower courts all the way to the 15-man SC. As of this writing, the Chief Justice post is among the two vacancies being filled by the JBC.

A regular member of the JBC representing the academe, lawyer Jose Mejia noted with concern the seeming lack of interest to succeed Sereno at the High Court. As of this writing, no application or nomination has been submitted to the JBC despite public notices earlier published in leading national newspapers, including The STAR.

Having to succeed from two ousted Chief Justices surely is a non-starter.

The JBC needs to fill another vacancy that might crop up. This was after associate justice Samuel Martires was unanimously endorsed by his colleagues at the High Court to replace retiring Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales. Her seven-year term as Ombudsman ends next week (July 26).

At the en banc session yesterday, 11 justices present all voted for Martires. A former Sandiganbayan magistrate before his stint at the SC, Martires was President Duterte’s first appointee to the High Court. Martires topped the “short list” of nominees that the JBC will reportedly submit this week to Malacañang from which President Duterte will pick who will be his administration’s Ombudsman.

There are strong indications Martires is a cinch to become the new Ombudsman. He turns 70 years old on Jan. 2 next year. His possible appointment as Ombudsman will thus extend his service in the judiciary.

Meanwhile, President Duterte has yet to pick from the “short list” submitted to him last month by the JBC who will replace associate justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. who is scheduled to retire this Aug. 8. The JBC has nominated eight aspirants to replace Velasco. The eight nominees are, namely, Court of Appeals (CA) associate justices Jose Reyes Jr., Amy Lazaro-Javier and Ramon Garcia, Apolinario Bruselas, Rosmari Carandang, Ramon Hernando, SC court administrator Jose Midas Marquez, and former Ateneo law school dean Cesar Villanueva.

The President has 90 days from submission of the “short list” to fill vacancies at the SC, CA, and other constitutional courts like the Ombudsman and Sandiganbayan. 

 However, almost one month since the position of Chief Justice became vacant, the JBC is still waiting for acceptance of nominations as well as applications to indicate their desire to be considered for the top judicial post and third highest official of the land in the line of succession.

Considering the requirements are not stiff nor difficult, it is surprising that no one seems to be interested to become the Chief Justice in our country. The 1987 Constitution merely requires the Chief Justice and the associate justices of SC to be natural-born citizens, at least 40 years old, have experience as judge or in private law practice for at least 15 years; and have proven competence, integrity, probity and independence.  

In the published public notices of the JBC, they added  a requirement that private sector applicants who served in government during the last ten years must submit their statement of assets and liabilities (SALN) during that period.

The SALN was one of the issues raised by Solicitor General Jose Calida during the SC’s deliberations on the petition for quo warranto against Sereno. Last May 11, the SC justices handed down its landmark decision, voting 8-6, to remove Sereno as head magistrate.

Sereno was appointed as Chief Justice by former president Benigno Simeon Aquino III on Aug. 25, 2012 following the impeachment of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona. Voted out by erstwhile Aquino administration allies during the previous Congress, Corona was impeached over unreported items in his SALN.

Setting aside the time-honored tradition of seniority, ex-president Aquino chose Sereno who became the youngest ever and first woman Chief Justice in the country. She would have served 18 years as Chief Justice. But by the decision of her fellow SC justices, her stint was cut to just six years.

Being the most senior associate justice, Carpio was designated as “acting” Chief Justice.

Even those automatically nominated as Chief Justice from among Sereno’s former colleagues at the SC were apparently not excited to take over her place, Carpio included.  The other automatic nominees following the seniority rule include associate justices Velasco, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin. All of them reportedly have not responded to their automatic nominations to either accept or decline. JBC rules require nominees to submit conforme or acceptance of nominations to the council.

True to his public statements before, Carpio is not keen to succeed as full-time Chief Justice. This, he reiterated when we bumped into each other at the French National Day last July 14 at the residence of Nicolas Galey, the ambassador of France at North Forbes in Makati City. For one, Carpio cited, he has just one year left before he retires in October next year.

Carpio prefers to keep himself a free-thinker and fears he might lose his unencumbered public advocacy for West Philippine Sea if he gets to be named as Chief Justice. Obviously, his advocacy runs counter from President Duterte’s position in our country’s overlapping maritime territorial claims with Beijing over the South China Sea.

As head of the JBC, Carpio though looks forward to the start of the interviews starting next week on who will respond to “Wanted: Chief Justice” sign at the SC.