The Judicial and Bar Council on Friday submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte a shortlist of three senior associate justices of the Supreme Court as candidates for the post of chief justice, which was left vacant following the ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
The seven-member council chaired by acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio approved a shortlist of nominees composed of Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin for the top post of the judiciary.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, an ex-officio member of the council, revealed that De Castro and Peralta got six votes each, while Bersamin received five votes from the JBC members.
The JBC approved the shortlist and subsequently transmitted the names to President Duterte for his consideration in choosing the next chief justice.
The JBC voted on the shortlist of nominees despite the filing of impeachment complaints filed by opposition lawmakers against seven Supreme Court justices, including the three nominees to the top judiciary post.
The vote flew in the face of the claim of Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, who said the decision of the associate justices to oust Sereno through a quo warranto proceeding disqualified them for the post.
“The mere filing of the impeachment complaint is not enough to disqualify [them],” Guevarra said.
The two other aspirants—Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr. and Tagum City Judge Virginia Tejano-Ang—did not make it to the shortlist.
Reyes failed to get needed minimum four votes to be included in the shortlist, while Ang was disqualified due to an adverse finding against her in an administrative case.
Guevarra also said there was an unwritten rule that a judge cannot apply for a position two levels higher than his or her current position.
Aside from Carpio and Guevarra, the JBC is also composed of ex-officio member Senator Richard Gordon, who represents Congress. The regular members include former Supreme Court Justice Jose Mendoza, former Integrated Bar of the Philippines official Milagros Fernan-Cayosa, and former judge Toribio Ilao Jr.
The three shortlisted chief justice nominees were among the eight SC justices who voted to oust Sereno, despite her calls for their inhibition.
De Castro, Peralta, and Bersamin are the second, third, and fourth most senior magistrates of the 15-member bench.
De Castro, who has been in government and judiciary work for 45 years, will retire in October. If she is appointed, she would occupy the seat for less than two months, but the short term did not seem to faze her.
During the JBC’s public interview for the chief justice aspirants last week, De Castro discussed her extensive work at the Supreme Court.
“It is not as if I am going to start today working on projects that will benefit the Court,” De Castro said, when asked what she can do if appointed chief justice.
Peralta still has until 2022 before retiring from the judiciary, while Bersamin will retire next year.
President Duterte has until mid-September to choose his appointee.
A last-minute bid to stop the voting did npt prosper.
Private citizen Rhia Ceralde filed on Friday an opposition before the JBC seeking the disqualification of the applicants who voted in favor of the quo warranto ouster of Sereno.
Ceralde said De Castro, Peralta, Bersamin, and Reyes do not possess the constitutional requirements of “integrity, probity and independence” because they voted in favor of the quo warranto ouster, which was assailed by some legal groups supporting Sereno as an unconstitutional mode of removing a chief justice.
On Aug. 23, opposition lawmakers led by Lagman filed an impeachment complaints against seven justices, including the four chief justice applicants, citing their refusal to inhibit themselves from the quo warranto proceedings as basis.
Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, meanwhile, has asked the House committee on justice to begin deliberations on the impeachment complaint as soon as possible.
“The most important thing is to expedite it one way or another so that it does not disturb the legislative agenda,” Arroyo said in an ambush interview in Pampanga, where she was delivering relief to an Aeta community Friday.
Arroyo was expected to have signed the transmittal letter for the House committee on rules, which will refer it to the justice committee.
Oriental Mindoro Rep. Doy Leachon, the panel’s chairman, said his committee will act on the complaint filed by opposition lawmakers as soon as it is referred to them.
The Palace on Friday said the impeachment complaints filed against the seven justices had no merit.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the Palace expects that the complaint will be discarded by the House committee on justice.
“The Constitution states that the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over quo warranto petitions. So, I don’t understand why this is an impeachable offense,” Roque said.
Solicitor General Jose Calida, who filed the quo warranto complaint against Sereno, said the impeachment complaints would fail.
“The impeachment cases against Supreme Court Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes Jr., and Alexander Gesmundo will not see the light of day,” Calida said in a statement.
