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Excerpts:
"THE Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has blocked a plan of President Benigno Aquino 3rd to return to them the shortlist for two vacancies in the Supreme Court (SC).
President Aquino giving back the shortlist arose from reported links of a number of nominees to the open slots in the High Tribunal to former President and now Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga province.
According to SC spokesman and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, there were two incidents in the history of the JBC that the shortlists were returned by Malacañang but the council stood its ground.
“The last time that the shortlist was returned by Malacañang, it was not accepted by the Judicial and Bar Council and the same list was submitted,” he said on Tuesday.
Marquez added that the most recent incident happened during the time of then-Chief Justice Reynato Puno when then-President Gloria Arroyo returned the shortlist because of her dislike of the nominees.
Puno, however, returned the rejected shortlist to the Palace.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the chairman of the JBC.
The other occasion that saw the list being returned by Malacañang was during the time of then-Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. when Mrs. Arroyo was looking for the name of Constitutional Commission delegate Adolfo Azcuna for nomination to the High Tribunal.
Former President Corazon Aquino supposedly had asked Mrs. Arroyo to consider Azcuna’s appointment to the High Court.
Then-Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and former Presidential Legal Counsel Avelino Cruz asked Davide if the JBC would allow the return of the list, which Davide said the council would not.
Davide at the time told The Manila Times that “Malacañang cannot do a ping-pong here.”
It was learned that four of those who were shortlisted were justices of the Court of Appeals who were appointed by Mrs. Arroyo: Jose Reyes, Magdangal de Leon, Japar Dimaampao and Estela Perlas-Bernabe.
The lone outsider on the shortlist, former Constitutional Commission delegate Rodolfo Robles, also has reported links to Mrs. Arroyo, with Robles’ sister being a former classmate of the former leader.
Except for appellate court Justice Bienvenido Reyes who was appointed by then President Joseph Estrada, all the other JBC nominees also have reported links to Mrs. Arroyo.
The two vacancies in the High Tribunal stemmed from the retirement of Associate Justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Conchita Carpio-Morales, who was recently appointed Ombudsman.
The JBC received a total of 28 applications to the vacancies."
President Aquino giving back the shortlist arose from reported links of a number of nominees to the open slots in the High Tribunal to former President and now Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga province.
According to SC spokesman and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, there were two incidents in the history of the JBC that the shortlists were returned by Malacañang but the council stood its ground.
“The last time that the shortlist was returned by Malacañang, it was not accepted by the Judicial and Bar Council and the same list was submitted,” he said on Tuesday.
Marquez added that the most recent incident happened during the time of then-Chief Justice Reynato Puno when then-President Gloria Arroyo returned the shortlist because of her dislike of the nominees.
Puno, however, returned the rejected shortlist to the Palace.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the chairman of the JBC.
The other occasion that saw the list being returned by Malacañang was during the time of then-Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. when Mrs. Arroyo was looking for the name of Constitutional Commission delegate Adolfo Azcuna for nomination to the High Tribunal.
Former President Corazon Aquino supposedly had asked Mrs. Arroyo to consider Azcuna’s appointment to the High Court.
Then-Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo and former Presidential Legal Counsel Avelino Cruz asked Davide if the JBC would allow the return of the list, which Davide said the council would not.
Davide at the time told The Manila Times that “Malacañang cannot do a ping-pong here.”
It was learned that four of those who were shortlisted were justices of the Court of Appeals who were appointed by Mrs. Arroyo: Jose Reyes, Magdangal de Leon, Japar Dimaampao and Estela Perlas-Bernabe.
The lone outsider on the shortlist, former Constitutional Commission delegate Rodolfo Robles, also has reported links to Mrs. Arroyo, with Robles’ sister being a former classmate of the former leader.
Except for appellate court Justice Bienvenido Reyes who was appointed by then President Joseph Estrada, all the other JBC nominees also have reported links to Mrs. Arroyo.
The two vacancies in the High Tribunal stemmed from the retirement of Associate Justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Conchita Carpio-Morales, who was recently appointed Ombudsman.
The JBC received a total of 28 applications to the vacancies."
