Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Tuesday backed the proposal of the consultative committee (Concom) on charter change to reorganize the Judicial and Bar Council.
Guevara, an ex-officio member of the constitutional body mandated to vet nominees to appointive posts in the judiciary and the Ombudsman office, stressed the reforms proposed by the Concom chaired by retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno appeared to be “a good idea.”
“A pro-active search will improve the quality of the men and women who will join our judiciary,” the Justice Secretary said in an interview.
“That would mean more work for the JBC, but with an expanded membership the council can do it,” he added.
Guevarra made the statement in response to the reported proposal of Concom to reorganize the JBC in its draft for a new constitution with a federal form of government.
A draft of the sub-committee on judiciary section of the constitution showed the proposed increase in membership of JBC from seven to 12.
Under the current constitution, the council has three ex-officio members —chief justice, secretary of justice and alternate terms of the justice committee chairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives—and four regular members from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, private sector, retired justices of the Supreme Court and the academe.
In the proposal of Concom, there will be nine ex-officio members—chief justice of the federal Supreme Court, presiding justice of the federal constitutional court, presiding justice of the federal administrative court, the Ombudsman, court administrator of the SC, representative from Congress, chairman of the Civil Service Commission, chairman of the Commission on Audit and the secretary of Justice.
The JBC, in the proposed new constitution, would only have three regular members—representative of IBP, a law academic appointed by association of law professors and a representative from the private sector.
Besides reorganization, the Concom also wants a more pro-active mechanism of JBC in its search and screening process.
It proposed that the mandate of JBC be expanded to include the “conduct of a thorough search program…to find the best and the brightest most qualified for the vacant positions for justices and judges in the judiciary.”
The Concom’s sub-committee on judiciary led by retired SC Justice Eduardo Nachura wanted the council to have an active duty of searching for the most qualified candidates for judicial posts—instead of its passive role at present where it just accepts nominations and applications.
The committee said it wanted more members to have a wider screening of candidates that would involve key agencies of the government like the Ombudsman and COA.
The JBC is currently chaired by Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio with Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali as ex-officio members.
Its regular members are retired SC Justice Jose Catral Mendoza, representing the justices and chairperson of the JBC Executive Committee; Atty. Jose Mejia, representing the academ, Atty. Milagros Fernan-Cayosa, representing the IBP, and retired Judge Toribio Ilao, representing the private sector.