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MANILA–Some 12 applicants will vie for the position to be vacated by Supreme Court Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes who is set to retire in July, three of which are new applicants including a Court Administrator and two Court of Appeals Associate Justices.
The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has received 12 nominations and applications for the upcoming vacancy in the SC that would enable President Rodrigo Duterte to name his third appointee to the high court.
Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez has been endorsed by the Philippine Judges Association (PJA) through its president Georgina Hidalgo. The group called for the promotion of Marquez as member of the high court, citing his “integrity, competence, work ethic and dedication to the judiciary” as his qualifications.
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Aside from Marquez, Court of Appeals Associate Justices Ramon Paul Hernando and Ramon Bato were also nominated to the post and will also face the JBC in public interviews.
Hernando was a former Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutor and regional trial court judge of San Pablo, Laguna and Quezon City while Bato was a former RTC judge and known for dismissing the criminal charges against Senator Panfilo Lacson in the controversial Dacer-Corbito murder cases.
The nine others were already nominated in the two previous vacancies from the retirement of Associate Justices Jose Perez and Arturo Brion in December last year – CA Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr., Associate Justices Rosmari Carandang, Jose Reyes, Japar Dimaampao, Apolinario Bruselas, Stephen Cruz and Amy Lazaro Javier; Centro Escolar University law school vice dean Rita Linda Ventura – Jimeno; and Pasig RTC Judge Rowena Apao-Adlawan.
All the applicants will be screened by the JBC and submit a shortlist to President Rodrigo Duterte.
Last March, President Duterte named his first two appointees to the high court – Associate Justices Samuel Martires and Noel Tijam. Both were schoolmates of the President in the San Beda College law school.
The JBC is set to publish the names of the aspirants to the SC vacancy and schedule the public interviews for the three new nominees.
The JBC is chaired by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno, with two ex-officio members –Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and legislative representatives Senator Richard Gordon and Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, who shall have a term sharing seat in the JBC.
The regular members are retired SC Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, who heads the Executive Committee; lawyer Jose Mejia, representing the academe; lawyer Milagros Fernan-Cayosa, representing the Integrated Bar of the Philippines; and retired Judge Toribio Ilao, representing the private sector.
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