Ex-Arroyo chief of staff accepts nomination for chief justice
02/03/2010 | 11:21 PM
A former chief of staff of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has expressed his intention to be the next chief of the judiciary.
In a letter to the Judicial Bar and Council (JBC), Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona said he is accepting his nomination to the post of chief justice.
“I humbly submit to the wisdom of the JBC in the exercise of its mandate under the Constitution," said Corona in his letter addressed to JBC ex-officio secretary Ma. Luisa Villarama.
The JBC, the body that screens nominees for vacant judicial posts, will close the nominations for Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s replacement on Thursday, February 4.
Puno is set to retire on May 17 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Corona, one of the youngest magistrates appointed in the SC, had served as spokesman of President Arroyo when she was still vice president. He was appointed chief of staff when she assumed the presidency in 2001.
Two of Corona’s colleagues in the SC, Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio-Morales, have expressed willingness to be nominated under the condition that their names would be submitted to the next president.
The Constitution prohibits an incumbent president from making appointment two months before a national election. Malacañang, for its part, has repeatedly said that the ban is not applicable to the judiciary.
Aside from Corona, Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio is also being considered by the JBC. He, however, accepted the nomination with the same condition as Carpio and Morales.
The JBC will meet again on Monday to tackle various legal opinions on whether President Arroyo can appoint Puno's successor. - Aie Balagtas See/KBK, GMANews.TV
In a letter to the Judicial Bar and Council (JBC), Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona said he is accepting his nomination to the post of chief justice.
“I humbly submit to the wisdom of the JBC in the exercise of its mandate under the Constitution," said Corona in his letter addressed to JBC ex-officio secretary Ma. Luisa Villarama.
The JBC, the body that screens nominees for vacant judicial posts, will close the nominations for Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s replacement on Thursday, February 4.
Puno is set to retire on May 17 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Corona, one of the youngest magistrates appointed in the SC, had served as spokesman of President Arroyo when she was still vice president. He was appointed chief of staff when she assumed the presidency in 2001.
Two of Corona’s colleagues in the SC, Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio-Morales, have expressed willingness to be nominated under the condition that their names would be submitted to the next president.
The Constitution prohibits an incumbent president from making appointment two months before a national election. Malacañang, for its part, has repeatedly said that the ban is not applicable to the judiciary.
Aside from Corona, Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio is also being considered by the JBC. He, however, accepted the nomination with the same condition as Carpio and Morales.
The JBC will meet again on Monday to tackle various legal opinions on whether President Arroyo can appoint Puno's successor. - Aie Balagtas See/KBK, GMANews.TV
