Questionable appointment

One particular fact that is quite clear under the present administration is that the actions and decisions especially of President Duterte are often times questionable and controversial. This is once more confirmed by his appointment of Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro as the new Chief Justice.

To be sure, the appointment of De Castro actually adheres to the long standing and widely accepted practice of naming the most senior associate Justice of the Supreme Court, as the next Chief Justice. This is a practice that has been observed even in the previous designations of the Chief Justice when the position becomes vacant. While this is not really a hard and fast rule, it is still the best and most prudent policy especially when the choice is from among the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. This is so because all of incumbent Justices are supposed to be qualified for the position. So it is really fairer and wiser to choose the Associate Justice with the longest experience in said Court. While it is true that De Castro is only the second most senior among the SC, the most Senior Justice, Antonio Carpio did not aspire for the position out of delicadeza.

But despite adhering to this rule on seniority and despite the favorable reactions especially from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), the appointment of De Castro nevertheless stirs up some questions and criticisms. The main issue being raised against her appointment is apparently her short term of office. She will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 years on October 8, 2018 or only after 41 days as Chief Justice. Such a short period in office undeniably support the observation that she has little or no time at all to introduce and implement whatever plans and programs she may have in mind or may have even drawn up already. Indeed, 41 days may be over before she can even start taking steps to carry out the needed reforms in the Judiciary especially the long delay in the administration and dispensation of justice.

This appointment has also been criticized on ethical grounds. The prevailing public perception is that it is quite improper for her to aspire for and accept the position because she even testified at  the hearings in the House of Representatives for the impeachment and removal of Sereno as Chief Justice. The impression implanted in the minds of a lot of people, although not really quite correct, is that she really tried to oust Sereno so she could take over her position. People cannot really help but conclude that she planned to take over as Chief Justice before her retirement. It would appear here that she has no delicadeza at all.

Then of course, another public perception is that her appointment is some sort of a reward from Duterte for ruling in his favor on several cases. It is really of common knowledge that Duterte wants Sereno unseated as Chief Justice because Sereno has opposed and criticized some of his actions. And in this connection, people get the impression that De Castro has sided with Duterte because she voted in favor of the Petition for Quo Warranto filed by the government’s Solicitor General, Calida against Sereno that eventually led to the invalidation of her appointment as Chief Justice on August 4, 2012. Then of course there is the case involving the burial of the late Dictator in the cemetery for heroes or the Libingan ng mga Bayani which Duterte supported and which the SC granted with De Castro among the justices voting in favor thereof. People therefore look at her appointment as a reward because she will enjoy a pension which is 50 percent higher than what she would have received as an associate justice, just for serving as Chief Justice for 41 days.

On the plus side however, the appointment of De Castro shows that Duterte respects the seniority rule. In defending his appointment of De Castro, Duterte himself said after the National Heroes Day rites, that “Seniority, not politics was the decisive factor….Everyone in the civil service, the military everybody-seniority serves as the conveyor…it will be the same for all justices not only De Castro, everyone. Unless of course they refuse or maybe they would opt to retire or they may have little time left.”

If Duterte will not forget his words and strictly observe them, this is good news indeed especially in the appointment of the next SC Chief Justice when De Castro retires on October 8, 2018. This is good news because Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has already announced that he is now willing to vie for the post when De Castro ends her term in 41 days. And apparently, Carpio seems to be more qualified for the position because he is a “person of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence.” He has shown these qualities especially when he declined his nomination for the post of SC Chief Justice last June out of propriety. He said then that he did not want to benefit from the ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno through a mere quo warranto petition which he had opposed because it is unconstitutional. As reported yesterday, Carpio would now accept his automatic nomination “because there is no longer an issue of delicadeza or legal reason to decline.”

And so people are still hoping that when the position of Chief Justice becomes vacant again on October 8, 2018, Duterte will not forget what he said now and will be true to his words by appointing the successor of De Castro based on the seniority rule.

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