WILL GMA NAME SUPREME COURT CHIEF-IN-WAITING?
MANILA, JANUARY 9, 2010 (STAR) Will a new chief justice be named before the May 10 elections?A report yesterday said a member of the Judicial and Bar Council, Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, had urged other JBC members last month to nominate possible replacements for Chief Justice Reynato Puno even before he retires on May 17. President Arroyo can then pick a chief justice-in-waiting.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, a former JBC member, said yesterday that Malacañang was open to the proposal, which will be tackled by the council this Monday.
Puno is the only justice in the 15-member SC who is not an appointee of President Arroyo.
Watchdog groups like the Supreme Court Appointments Watch and the Bantay Korte Suprema have expressed concern that Mrs. Arroyo would appoint her allies to the SC for her to retain some degree of legal immunity and evade prosecution after she steps down from office on June 30.
In a statement, Pangilinan said he was informed by sources in the judiciary that the Palace wanted to have a new chief justice.
However, the vacancy will only occur after the May 10 elections since Puno will turn 70 on May 17.
Pangilinan said under the Constitution, two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a president or acting president shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments to executive positions.
“We call on the Judicial and Bar Council to resist any effort by Malacañang to fast-track the nomination process,” he said.
“The JBC must assert its independence by ignoring the Malacañang request to begin the nomination process for the vacancy for the post of chief justice.
“Both the Constitution and delicadeza dictate that President Arroyo leave the choice to the incoming chief executive, considering that the retirement of Chief Justice Puno happens after the May 2010 elections.”
Puno was appointed by President Fidel Ramos in 1993 and was named by Mrs. Arroyo as chief justice in December 2006.
The justices appointed by Mrs. Arroyo are Antonio Carpio, Renato Corona, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Presbitero Velasco, Antonio Nachura, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, Roberto Abad, Martin Villarama, Jose Perez and Jose Mendoza.
Defensor pushes for new chief justice
In a letter dated Dec. 22, Defensor urged his fellow JBC members to “commence the procedure in nominating the applicants and immediately submit to the President the list of at least three nominees for the position of chief justice.”
Sources in the legal community believe that the move is meant to circumvent the constitutional ban on midnight appointments by an outgoing President.
“It could be a way to skirt the ban on appointments and allow President Arroyo to appoint her preferred Chief Justice,” one court watcher said.
In a phone interview, Defensor said he proposed the move “to avoid the possibility of vacancy in the chief justice post for 43 days,” because it cannot be left vacant even for a day.
“The chief justice post is very important—he heads the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, chairs the JBC, and [is] 5th in [the order of] succession,” he said.
In his letter, Defensor said the position of chief justice is the most important appointment vested by the Constitution to the President.
Without mentioning the appointment ban, Defensor said “to avoid a vacancy of even a single day in the position, it is imperative that we give the President ample time before May 17, 2010, to scrutinize and critically consider our 3 nominees for this highest of judicial positions.”
Defensor said traditionally, from the time of retirement of Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee —the first chief justice under the 1987 Constitution —to the appointment of Puno, the chief justice post has never been vacant, not even for a day.
“The filling up of the vacancy in said office either by substitution or by temporary appointment is not sanctioned by the Constitution,” he said.
Defensor said SC members could not select among themselves an acting chief justice during the interim period that the next president has yet to make the new appointment.
“There is no such thing as acting chief justice,” he said.
Defensor said it is the JBC’s responsibility to come up with the list and for Mrs. Arroyo whether to make the appointment.
Some of the JBC members received copies of Defensor’s letter only this week.
The JBC is comprised of eight members from academe, private sector, retired members of the judiciary, legislative, and executive departments.
The chief justice chairs the JBC.
GMA names new gov’t corporate counsel
President Arroyo has named Government Corporate Counsel Alberto Agra as the new solicitor general in place of Agnes Devanadera, who is running for Congress representing the first district of Quezon province in the May 10 elections.
Devanadera, concurrent secretary of justice, confirmed Agra’s appointment to reporters yesterday.
“We are in transition,” she said.
“The President has already signed his appointment papers. It was announced during our New Year’s call.”
As solicitor general, Agra will lead state counsels in representing the government in litigation and other legal concerns.
Agra served as Mrs. Arroyo’s lawyer during impeachment proceedings at the House of Representatives in 2006.
He also represented the Chief Executive in election-related issues in 2004.
In March 2007, he was appointed government corporate counsel, who represents government-owned and controlled corporations in legal cases.
Agra has been professor at the Ateneo School of Law since 1993.
He teaches election law, the Local Government Code, Law on Public/Government Corporations, Administrative Law, and Law on Public Officers.
He was also an executive director of Saligan, a civic organization offering legal assistance and doing developmental legal work with women, workers, farmers, fishers, urban poor and local communities. - With Edu Punay
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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