The Judicial and Bar Council on Monday submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte nine nominees for the position of associate justice in the Supreme Court left vacant by the appointment of Ombudsman Samuel Martires in July.
The JBC selected eight Court of Appeals magistrates and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez from the 13 applicants for the vacancy.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevara, an ex-officio member of the JBC, said the shortlist also included Court of Appeals Associate Justices Japar Dimaampao, Ramon Garcia, Manuel Barrios, Apolinario Bruselas, Rosmari Carandang, Edgardo delos Santos, Ramon Paul Hernando, and Amy Lazaro-Javier.
Dimaampao and Garcia topped the shortlist after getting six votes from the JBC members, followed by Barrios, Brussels and Carandang with five members each. Delos Santos, Hernando, Lazaro-Javier and Marquez, on the other hand, got four votes each.
Marquez made it to the shortlist despite the opposition of presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, who accused him of moving to have a disbarment case against her withdrawn to be included in the nominees in the 15-member bench.
The disbarment case was filed in 2011 by the Sheriffs Confederation of the Philippines over an incident where Mayor Duterte punched a court sheriff in Davao City in connection with an operation to demolish shanties there.
Marquez denied the allegation and said he only spoke to the confederation in September, or five months after the group decided to withdraw the disbarment case in April.
The JBC came up with the list after interviewing the aspirants last week.
The seven-member council submitted the shortlist to Malacañang as it started accepting nominations and applications for the top judicial post to be vacated by the retirement of Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro next week.
The 1987 Constitution requires a vacancy in the high court to be filled within 90 days. Martires was appointed Ombudsman on July 26 and retired from the judiciary on Aug. 3, which means Duterte has until Oct. 31 to name his replacement in the high court.