THE Judicial and Bar Council will vet the 13 aspirants to another seat in the Supreme Court that will be vacated by Associate Justice Jose Mendoza on Aug. 13 when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.
The seven-member council set the public interviews of the nominees on July 4.
But only three of the 13 candidates will face the JBC because the 10 others have been interviewed for the previous vacancies.
The three are Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard Mosquera, Court of Appeals Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan and Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo.
The 10 other nominees are Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr., Associate Justices Ramon Bato Jr., Apolinario Bruselas Jr., Rosmari Carandang, Stephen Cruz, Japar Dimaampao, Ramon Paul Hernando, Amy Lazaro-Javier and Jose Reyes Jr., and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez.
Most of the aspirants were also nominated for the vacancy in the high court that arose when Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes retired on July 6.
Mendoza’s retirement will result in the fourth vacancy in the Supreme Court under the administration of President Duterte, who gets to appoint up to 12 justices in the high court during his term.
After the interviews for the vacancy, the JBC will also hold more public interviews next week for the aspirants in the vacancies in the Court of Appeals and in the Sandiganbayan that resulted when Associate Justices Noel Tijam and Samuel Martires were promoted to the high court earlier this year.
A total of 18 of 57 applicants will face the council on July 5 and 6.
The JBC also opened up another vacancy in the Sandiganbayan for the position to be vacated by Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Rodolfo Ponferrada this September.
The council has set the deadline for the submission of nominations and applications on or before July 17.
Ponferrada, chairman of the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division, was appointed to the anti-graft court in August 2004. He retires on Sept. 13.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno heads the JBC, the seven-man council constitutionally tasked to screen the nominees for vacant posts in the judiciary and in the Office of the Ombudsman.
The two ex-officio members are Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II for the executive branch and Senator Richard Gordon and Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali on a term-sharing seat for the legislative branch.
The JBC’s regular members are retired Supreme Court 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.