Supreme Court Associate Justice Arturo Brion, a former labor secretary, has joined the list of aspirants for the country's top judiciary post, raising the total number of applicants for chief justice of the high court to seven. Brion was the last to submit his application to the Judicial Bar Council (JBC) Thursday. He joined three others who had earlier submitted their applications: Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Victor Fernandez, and Florentino Floro, a Malabon judge who got kicked out of his job in 2006 due to a “medically disabling condition of the mind that renders him unfit to discharge the functions of his office." [See: Ex-judge who predicted Maguindanao massacre eyes chief justice post]
(Illegal acceptance of Chief Justice post is impeachable—Fr. Bernas)
The next chief justice may be impeached if President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appoints him two months before the presidential elections, constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas warned. "Whoever accepts an appointment that is unconstitutional becomes an accomplice in the unconstitutional act. That becomes a culpable violation of the Constitution which can be a subject of an impeachment," said Bernas during the Supreme Court Appointments Watch Forum. Bernas stressed that under Article 7 Section 15 of the Charter, an incumbent president is barred from making so-called midnight appointments "two months immediately before the next presidential elections." In a report aired recently over "24 Oras," GMA News' Kara David said the framers of the Charter used as their inspiration a situation in 1962 where former President Carlos P. Garcia appointed at least 300 people in the government a short period before he left office, thus leaving his successor Diosdado Macapagal, the father of President Arroyo, powerless from installing his own key officials. "That went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court said this is a midnight appointment which we cannot allow. This was the inspiration for Article 7 Section 15 of the Constitution," Bernas said. The post will be vacated by Chief Justice Reynato Puno on May 17 when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70. The JBC had automatically considered for nomination Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, Associate Justices Renato Corona, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Presbitero Velasco Jr. and Antonio Eduardo Nachura. Velasco and Nachura, however, declined their inclusion in the list. Carpio and Morales said that they are accepting their nomination provided that their names would be submitted to whoever will win as president in the May 10 elections. They said this was pursuant to the constitutional ban barring the incumbent president from making appointments two months before elections until the end of her term. Corona, on the other hand, accepted his nomination without ascribing any condition for his acceptance. Legal experts have earlier said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo could not yet hand pick Puno's replacement because the post is still occupied. The chief justice retires on May 17. But even after Puno leaves his post, Mrs. Arroyo could still not make any appointments due to a provision in the 1987 Constitution barring an incumbent president from doing so "two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his (or her) term." Article VII, Section 15 of the Constitution further says the appointments the President could only make within those two months are temporary appointments to executive positions. The Palace has repeatedly stressed that the provision only applied to executive appointments, and does not cover the judiciary.
Endorsed by the Philconsa Brion's application for the chief justice post was endorsed by the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa) and Court of Appeals Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao. Brion became Supreme Court associate justice on March 17, 2008, replacing Justice Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, according to the Supreme Court Website. Prior to his appointment to the high court, Brion was secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment. He was CA Associate Justice from July 2003 until his appointment to the DOLE in June 2006. [See:
GMA News Research profile of Arturo Brion] Brion, a graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, was the bar topnotcher in 1974. He engaged in private law practice, mostly labor law, before entering government service in 1982 as executive director of the Institute of Labor and Manpower Studies under the Philippine Ministry of Labor.
- with Johanna Camille Sisante/RSJ/LBG/MDM, GMANews.TV 
GMA Brandtalk
Tracking
Archives
