22 nominees vie for Supreme Court post

MANILA, Philippines — The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has received 22 nominations for associate justice of the Supreme Court (SC) following the promotion of Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin in November last year.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, ex-officio member of the JBC, said the list consists mostly of insiders from the judiciary.

Guevarra said 15 of the nominees are magistrates of the Court of Appeals. They are Nina Antonio-Valenzuela, Oscar Badelles, Ramon Bato Jr., Apolinario Bruselas Jr., Ramon Cruz, Stephen Cruz, Edgardo delos Santos, Japar Dimaampao, Ramon Garcia, Henri Jean Paul Inting, Amy Lazaro-Javier, Jhosep Lopez, Mario Lopez, Eduardo Peralta Jr. and Ricardo Rosario.

The list also included Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje Tang and Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz as well as Justice Roman del Rosario of the Court of Tax Appeals and SC spokesman Midas Marquez.

Three other nominees are former Ateneo law dean Cesar Villanueva, Bureau of Internal Revenue deputy commissioner Lanee Cui–David and law professor Jeremy Gatdula.

 Guevarra said the seven-member council would meet today for preliminary deliberations on the list.