THE Supreme Court directed on Tuesday the Judicial and Bar Council to comment on the petition seeking the restoration of the full voting right of the House of Representatives in the council.
During its en banc session, SC gave the JBC, the constitutionally mandated office that accepts, screens, and nominates appointments in the judiciary and the Office of the Ombudsman, 10 days to answer the petition filed by House Justice Committee Chair and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali who pleaded that instead of the Senate and the House of Representatives sharing their one vote on a six-month rotation basis, each chamber of Congress should be given the right to vote separately during JBC deliberations.
In 2012, the high court reduced the voting representation of the Senate and the House in the JBC from two to one vote shared by whoever is designated by the two chambers of Congress.
This ruling reduced the number of JBC members from eight to seven members, which is now being challenged by the petition filed by Umali.
Aside from the JBC, also ordered to file their comment on the petition were the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Office of the Solicitor General.
“Under the present composition of the JBC, Congress is denied full representation. When it is the turn of the Senate to sit in the Council, the House of Representatives is denied representation. Conversely, when it is the turn of the House of Representatives to sit therein, the Senate is the one denied of its right to represent Congress,” Umali stressed.
Citing an example, Umali said his vote was not counted during the deliberations of the JBC last Dec. 2 and 9 for the two vacancies with the retirement of Justices Jose Portugal Perez and Arturo D. Brion.
During the two deliberations, the petitioner noted that only the vote of Senator Richard Gordon was counted because of the current six-month rotation in Congress’ membership in the JBC.
On top of reducing Congress’ two votes to only one vote, the JBC had also adopted a half-voting system for the legislative’s representatives or a 0.5 vote each.
“In case where each was given a half-vote, the rights of both the House of Representatives and the Senate are diluted. In case of the six months rotation, there is periodic denial or deprivation of such right, contrary to the purpose of the Constitution. Only when both the House of Representatives and the Senate are given an equal vote of one each, is there a full recognition of their independent right of representation,” Umali stressed.
The lawmaker asked that “the JBC be directed to revert back to its prior representational arrangement where two representatives from Congress are recognized and allowed to vote… to ensure full and proper representation and voting by both members from the Senate and the House of Representatives, and thereafter to recognize, accept and count the votes cast by the petitioner Umali in all proceedings of the JBC.”
The JBC, concurrently chaired by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno, is composed of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre as ex-officio member, Umali and Gordon as members of Congress on term-sharing basis.
The regular members are retired SC Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, who heads the Executive Committee; lawyer Jose Mejia, representing the academe; lawyer Milagros Fernan-Cayosa, representing the Integrated Bar of the Philippines; and retired Judge Toribio Ilao, representing the private sector.