Peralta's SC seat was reward for convicting Estrada - Erap spokesman

MANILA, Philippines – The spokesperson of former President Joseph Estrada on Wednesday said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may have given Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta a seat in the Supreme Court (SC) as reward for convicting the deposed president of plunder in 2007. Peralta, who joined the Sandiganbayan in 2002, was named chief of the anti-graft court on March 28, 2008, in place of Teresita De Castro who was then named as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. Like De Castro, Peralta was a member of the three-man Special Division of the Sandiganbayan that found Estrada guilty of plunder. “With all due respect, as with Justice Teresita de Castro, it is hard to believe that the appointment of Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta to the Supreme Court is not a reward for the guilty verdict in the Estrada Plunder Trial," Estrada’s spokesperson Margaux Salcedo said in a statement. Salcedo also expressed fear that the high court’s independence and integrity may be at stake, saying that President Arroyo’s appointees in the SC may be beholden to their appointing power instead of upholding the court’s role as final arbiter of justice. “When justices who even so much as appear to be indebted or are perceived as partial to the Chief Executive are appointed, the Supreme Court as a pillar of democracy is questioned, its image as an institution becomes tainted, and it loses its credibility as the last bastion of democracy," she said. With six other SC magistrates poised to retire in 2009, Salcedo added that Peralta’s appointment calls for vigilance on forthcoming appointments and on future decisions of the high court. Malacañang’s defense For his part, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita fended off insinuations that President Arroyo appointed Peralta to a Supreme Court post because of their perceived close ties. In a media briefing, Ermita said that the appointment was based on Peralta’s competence to be an SC magistrate, adding that the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) would not have nominated him if he were not qualified. The JBC is the constitutionally-created body that screens and recommends to President Arroyo the appointees to vacancies in the high court. “The President makes her decision depending on what she reads about the qualifications of these people and of course what she knows," Ermita said. “I could imagine that first, in the process being done in the judiciary level, we have the Judiciary and Bar Council. They choose the applicants for such positions as justice of the [Sandiganbayan], sa I think that a person like Justice Peralta will not pass if there are flaws in his past and in his career," he added. Ermita also said that those appointed by President Arroyo are not automatically beholden to their appointing power, adding that the present Arroyo-appointees in the Tribunal exercise independence from the administration. "Let's see how he [Peralta] will perform and without having to mention names. I happen to know that a few of those appointees really, they exercise their own discretion as far as cases are concerned, not necessarily in favor of the position that administration wishes to have so," Ermita said. Prior to his appointment, Peralta mentioned in media interviews that his father is a friend of the late President Diosdado Macapagal, after whom he was named. But Peralta insisted he will remain independent from President Arroyo should he be appointed to the high court. Peralta, along with four others, was included in JBC’s shortlist of nominees for the slot vacated by SC Associate Justice Ruben Reyes. Reyes, who reached the mandatory requirement age of 70, hung his robe on Jan. 3, 2009. Aside from Reyes, six other SC justices are poised to retire this year: Adolf Azcuna on February 16, Dante Tinga on May 11, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago on October 5, Leonardo Quisumbing on November 6, Minita Chico-Nazario on December 5, and Ma. Alicia A. Martinez on December 19. When President Arroyo bows out of office on May 2010, she will have an almost full sweep of the SC with only Chief Justice Reynato Puno as the remaining non-Arroyo appointee in the 15-member high court bench. - GMANews.TV