SC almost an Arroyo court as new justice assumes post

The 15-man Supreme Court is almost an Arroyo court. The President has appointed senior Court of Appeals justice Martin Villarama Jr. to the high tribunal, bringing to 13 the number of justices picked by the chief executive. The 63-year old Villarama, who took his oath of office on Saturday, assumed the post vacated by associate justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago last month. It took the Judicial Bar Council (JBC) nine times to nominate Villarama to the post before he was finally appointed by Mrs. Arroyo last Friday. The JBC is the constitutionally mandated body that screens and submits Supreme Court nominees to the President. Villarama’s appointment leaves one more vacancy in the high tribunal, following the retirement last Friday of associate justice Leonardo Quisumbing who was appointed by former President Fidel Ramos. An Arroyo-appointed member of the Supreme Court, Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, is set to retire in December. Administration critics and watchdogs of the judiciary like the Bantay Korte Suprema and the Supreme Court Appointments Watch believe that Mrs. Arroyo will use her position to appoint her minions to the high court who could give her legal immunity after she vacates the Palace in June 2010. By 2010, Mrs. Arroyo would have named 14 of the 15 Supreme Court justices. Only Chief Justice Puno will be the non-Arroyo appointee by then. Puno was appointed by former President Fidel V. Ramos in 1993. He is set to retire on May 17, 2010, a month before the President’s term ends. However, the law bars Mrs. Arroyo from naming Puno’s replacement. The Constitution prohibits her from making so-called midnight appointments six months before her term expires in June 2010. - ANDREO C. CALONZO, SOPHIA M. DEDACE, GMANews.TV