2 ex-SC magistrates say Arroyo can't appoint next chief justice

Two legal experts on Tuesday added their voice to the mounting opposition for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint the next chief justice. In a joint statement, Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez and Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, retired associate justices from the Supreme Court, said the constitutional ban on the incumbent president to make appointments 60 days before a national election is “clear and unambiguous" and does not need any more interpretation. “Even as we have retired from the SC, we simply cannot sit idly and witness the obviously illegal attempt to appoint a new chief justice during the constitutional ban on appointments," they said. Chief Justice Reynato Puno is set to retire on May 17, which is within the period covered by the election ban on incumbent president to make appointments. Gutierrez and Martinez said the constitutional mandate to appoint the replacement of a chief justice within 90 days from vacancy is not in conflict with the election ban rule. According to them, the 90-day period would not lapse because from the time Puno retires, the next president would still have 45 days from the time of his or her oath-taking on June 30 to appoint the next chief justice. They also said that there is nothing worrisome should there be no chief justice for 45 days, or from May 17 to June 30. “The temporary vacancy in the office of the Chief Justice is an ordinary occurrence that the SC has faced many times. Historical records showed that whenever the Chief Justice is absent or the position is vacant, the most senior Associate Justice performs his duties," they said. At present, the most senior magistrate in the SC is Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who had signified his interest in accepting his nomination by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) provided that his nomination will be submitted to the next president. The JBC is the government body that screens nominees for vacant judicial posts. - KBK, GMANews.TV