The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has re-opened the applications or nominations for four associate justice posts in the Court of Appeals and in the Sandiganbayan.
The seven-man JBC opened for nomination for the CA post vacated by Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh who had been promoted to the Supreme Court on May 18, 2022.
Two other CA posts which will be vacant are those occupied by Associate Justices Manuel M. Barrios and Loida S. Posadas-Kahulugan who will compulsorily retire on Nov. 29, 2022 and Jan. 19, 2023, respectively.
At the Sandiganbayan, the vacant post was the one left by Associate Justice Alex L. Quiroz whose optional retirement was approved on Aug. 2, 2022.
Also opened for applications or nominations are the posts of two regular members of the Legal Education Board (LEB). The vacant posts were those previously occupied by Manuel R. Riguera, representative of the Philippine Association of Law Professors, and Josefe C. Sorera-Ty, representative of the Philippine Association of Law Schools.
The JBC, the constitutional office that accepts, screens, and nominates appointments in the judiciary, said that the deadline for the applications and nominations is on Dec. 20, 2022.
The LEB was created in 1993 under Republic Act No. 7662, the Education Reform Act.
Among its functions are to supervise and set accreditation standards for law schools, to prescribe the basic curricula for the course of study aligned to the requirements for admission to the bar, law practice and social consciousness, and to establish a law practice internship as a requirement for taking the Bar examinations.
Since his assumption to office, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has appointed two trial court judges as CA associate justices and the chief of the SC’s Fiscal Management and Budget Office (FMBO) as associate justice of the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA).
Appointed as CA associate justices were then Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judges Selma Palacio Alaras and Wilhelmina B. Jorge Wagan. Alaras and Wagan took over the posts vacated by retired CA Associate Justices Gabriel T. Ingles and Edgardo A. Camello, respectively.
Appointed CTA associate justice was SC-FMBO Chief Corazon G. Ferrer-Flores who took over the post vacated by Associate Justice Juanito C. Castaneda.
The three new members of the appellate courts took their oaths of office before Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo on Oct. 19, 2022.
