President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo can appoint the successor of outgoing Chief Justice Reynato Puno even without the nomination from the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said on Tuesday. “The appointment of the chief justice is outside the jurisdiction of the JBC. The JBC covers only the appointments of the members of the Supreme Court," Enrile said, adding that it is only the President who has jurisdiction over the appointment of chief justice. President Arroyo has been urged to start the process of selecting Puno’s replacement despite the constitutional ban on incumbent chief executives to make appointments 90 days before a presidential election. Puno, the only non-Arroyo appointee in the 14-member SC, is set to retire on May 17 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. Enrile said without JBC’s nominations, President Arroyo could just pick Puno’s successor from the Supreme Court’s 14 associate justices. He said the JBC could only step in when the President appoints an SC outsider.
Unconstitutional Other senators, however, disagreed with Enrile, saying appointing an SC chief without a shortlist from the JBC is unconstitutional. In a text message to GMANews.TV, Sen. Francis Pangilinan, a former JBC member, said since 1987 the chief justice has been appointed by the president from a list submitted by the JBC in accordance with the constitutional provision on appointments to the judiciary. In a separate text message, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said President Arroyo should allow the next administration to pick Puno’s successor.
Surprise A Malacañang official, meanwhile, said President Arroyo may “surprise" her critics by deferring the appointment of Puno’s replacement though he warned that it would leave a vacuum in the leadership of the judicial branch. Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said whether or not President Arroyo would name the next chief justice before she steps down from office on June is her prerogative. “This President . . . can surprise her most ardent critics by not making an appointment within the 45 days from May 17 that she will still be President. That is her prerogative. Or she can bless the Court and the Country by introducing a new face into the Court," Remonde said in his column, “Press Secretary Remonde’s Corner."
Vacuum Former Senate President Franklin Drilon allayed fears that Puno’s retirement would create vacuum in the SC, saying the Judiciary Act or Republic Act 296 provides for a process of succession in the event of vacancy. He said Section 12 of the Judiciary Act states that “in case of a vacancy in the office of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or his inability to perform the duties and powers of his office, they shall delve upon the Associate Justice who is first in precedence, until such disability is removed, or another Chief Justice is appointed and duly qualified. This provision shall apply to every Associate Justice who succeeds to the office of the Chief Justice." The term “the Associate Justice who is first in precedence" refers to the most senior associate justice who shall succeed as acting chief justice, said Drilon, a former member of the JBC.
- KBK, GMANews.TV 
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