JBC to tackle chief justice short list on Monday — Palace

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) is scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss whether it would submit a short list of nominees to succeed Chief Justice Reynato Puno when he retires a week after the May 10 polls. “The JBC is meeting tomorrow on this. We expect them to do what is right for the national interest and we think the national interest requires a chief justice and there should be no hiatus," deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar told government-run dzRB radio on Sunday. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is being pressed to pick Puno’s successor — a move opposed by many — despite a constitutional ban on incumbent Presidents to make further appointments 60 days before a presidential election. The ban will start on March 11 and end on June 30, when her term ends. Malacañang officials and Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, the House of Representatives’ ex-officio member of the JBC, have urged Mrs. Arroyo to pick Puno’s replacement. Section 12 of the Judiciary Act of 1948 states that in case the office of the chief justice is vacated, “the associate justice who if first in precedence" must take over until another chief justice is appointed. According to former Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, the law is referring to the most senior associate justice. In the 15-member Supreme Court, the most senior associate justices next to Puno are Antonio Carpio and Renato Corona. Midnight appointments Ironically, President Arroyo’s father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, opposed last-minute appointments during his time. Before he assumed office in December 1961, Macapagal issued an administrative order that canceled about 350 “midnight appointments" made by his predecessor, Carlos Garcia. One of Garcia’s appointees challenged Macapagal’s move, but the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mrs. Arroyo’s father. The late President said at that time: “These scandalously hurried appointments in mass do not fall within the intent and spirit of the constitutional provision authorizing the issuance of ad interim appointments." — Sophia Regina Dedace, GMANews.TV