The Judicial and Bar Council has started vetting candidates for another vacancy in the Supreme Court to be left by the retirement of Associate Justice Jose Mendoza in August.
The seven-man JBC concurrently chaired by Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno grilled on Tuesday three of the 13 nominees, namely:
Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Gerard Mosquera, Court of Appeals Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, and Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo.
Gaerlan was asked about the decision of his CA division acquitting pork barrel queen Janet Lim Napoles in the case involving the serious illegal detention of witness Benhur Luy.
“Upon review, there was no serious illegal detention because Benhur Luy was free to go out and contact family,” he said, adding that there was “public pressure” for the CA to affirm the conviction of Napoles.
When asked about President Rodrigo Duterte’s martial law declaration, the CA magistrate said he believes there was sufficient basis for the proclamation, particularly the existence of rebellion and invasion by terrorist groups in Mindanao.
Gesmundo was asked about the low disposition of cases in the Sandiganbayan. “Cases in Sandiganbayan are peculiar,” he said, also citing as reasons the use of defendants of “multiple lawyers with different strategies” and the “difficulty bringing witnesses to the court.”
The 10 others were no longer required to undergo the interviews as they have already been interviewed for previous vacancies. They are CA Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr.; Associate Justices Ramon BatoJr., 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.
Mendoza is set to retire from the judiciary after reaching mandatory retirement age of 70 on August 13. Most of the aspirants were also nominated for the SC vacancy for the retirement of Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes tomorrow, July 6.
The JBC has already submitted to President Duterte a shortlist of seven nominees for Reyes’ post, which included CA Presiding Justice Reyes, CA Justices Carandang, Bruselas, Dimaampao and Javier, and Centro Escolar University law school vice dean Rita Linda Ventura-Jimeno.
The Mendoza vacancy is the fourth vacancy in the SC under the administration of President Duterte, who gets to appoint up to 12 justices in the high court during his term.
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 Sereno with two ex-officio members in Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre 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.