The Judicial and Bar Council will hold on May 28 an online interview of four of 13 applicants to the Supreme Court associate justice post that was left vacant following the retirement of Associate Justice Andres B. Reyes Jr. last May 11.
Slated for virtual interview by the JBC members on Friday include Court of Appeals Associate Justices Ramon M. Bato, Priscilla J. Baltazar Padilla, Edwin D. Sorongon, and Nina G. Antonio lenzuela.
The nine other applicants whose previous interviews remain valid are Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez; Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje Tang, and CA Associate Justices Manuel M. Barrios, Eduardo B. Peralta, Ramon A. Cruz, Pablito A. Perez, Japar B. Dimaampao, Jhosep Y. Lopez, and Ricardo R. Rosario.
In an announcement, the JBC said that any sworn complaint, report or opposition against any of the applicants may be emailed to [email protected] and [email protected].
JBC is a constitutional body mandated to accept, screen, and nominate appointments to the judiciary. Whoever is appointed by President Duterte from among the nominees to be submitted by the JBC will complete the 15-member bench.
Meanwhile, the JBC through ex-officio secretary Edgar O. Aricheta announced the opening for applications and nominations to the post of SC associate justice that would be vacated on September 18 with the mandatory retirement of Associate Justice Jose C. Reyes Jr., and to the post of CA presiding justice that was vacated when CA Presiding Justice Romeo F. Barza retired on Aug. 2, 2019.
“Interested applicants must visit the official JBC website (www.jbc.judiciary.gov.ph) and access the Online Application Scheduler. After filling in the required information in the Online Application Scheduler, they will receive a computer-generated letter of intent in their e-mail addresses,” the advisory said.
The JBC also required aspirants to submit the complete and accurate digitized versions of (a) the Letter of Intent and (b) documentary requirements through electronic mail to [email protected] on their selected date and time of appointment in the Online Application Scheduler.
“The documentary requirements should be in Portable Document Format (PDF) and e-mailed in a single file only, following the order of documents as enumerated in the Announcement posted on the JBC website. The date of actual receipt of the complete documentary requirements (sent through e-mail) shall be deemed as the date of filing,” the JBC said.
“In addition, the applicants shall ensure receipt by the JBC of two (2) complete sets of the documentary requirements through courier service not later than 4:30 p.m. of 7 July 2020 (Tuesday). Applicants who fail to comply with the requirements of online and physical submission via courier service of the documentary requirements shall not be considered for nomination,” the council added.