The Judicial and Bar Council will vet on the qualification next month of aspirants for the expected vacancy in the Supreme Court arising from the retirement of Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes in July.
The JBC has set the public interviews on June 19 of eight of the 12 candidates who have been notified to face the council members.
They include Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez and Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr. and Associate Justices Ramon Bato, Apolinario Bruselas, Rosmari Carandang, Stephen Cruz, Ramon Paul Hernando and Jose Reyes.
The four other nominees —CA Associate Justices Japar Dimaampao and Amy Lazaro Javier, Centro Escolar University law school vice dean Rita Linda Ventura-Jimeno and Pasig RTC Judge Rowena Apao-Adlawan—will no longer be subjected to an interview because they were already grilled for the two previous vacancies from the retirement of Associate Justices Jose Perez and Arturo Brion in December last year.
The JBC, the seven-man council constitutionally tasked to screen nominees for vacant posts in the judiciary and the Offices of the Ombudsman, is chaired by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
The two ex-officio members are Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguierre II for the executive and Senator Richard Gordon and Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali on a term-sharing seat for the legislative.
The regular members of JBC are retired SC Justice Angelina Sandoval- Gutierrez for retired magistrates, lawyer Jose Mejia for the academe, lawyer Milagros Fernan-Cayosa for the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and retired Judge Toribio Ilao for the private sector.