Carpio's nomination questioned for 'electioneering'

A lawyer on Friday questioned before the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) the possible nomination of Associate Justice Antonio Carpio as replacement for retiring Chief Justice Reynato Puno. In a two-page letter, Joel Obar said Carpio should not be given the highest judicial post because he has been earlier found to have violated by-laws of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). Carpio was accused of electioneering and solicitation of votes during the presidential elections of the IBP in 1989. The Supreme Court looked into the accusation and found that Carpio, who was still a lawyer at the time, shelled out P20,000 to pay for the hotel accomodations of his colleagues, supposedly so they would vote for him as IBP president. "[I'm making a protest] just to protect the legal profession and to protect the institution of the judiciary where I belong... It is as simple as that," he said in a radio dzMM interview. Asked for comment, Angelita Laungengco from the Office of Justice Carpio, told GMANews.TV that the associate justice "never grants interviews for comments." But she said they have yet to receive a copy of Obar’s letter. Carpio is not the only prospective nominee whose character is being scrutinized. Another contender, Associate Justice Renato Corona was earlier accused of impropriety for allegedly allowing Philweb, a company that got a favorable decision from the SC’s First Division, to fund a United States trip in May 2009. Carpio and Corona are members of the division. Carpio had already denied speculations that he might have had a hand in the complaint against Corona. Besides the two justices, the other magistrates being considered as Puno's replacement are Conchita Carpio-Morales, Eduardo Nachura, and Presbitero Velasco Jr. The three were automatically considered by the JBC after it formally announced the opening of the nomination process in connection with the impending retirement of Chief Justice Puno on May 17. Nachura and Velasco had declined to be included in the list, saying only the three most senior justices – Carpio, Corona, and Morales – should be nominated. Both Carpio and Carpio-Morales, however, said they were both willing to be appointed as Puno’s successor, but on the condition that it would be done under the next president. Malacañang has taken Carpio's refusal to be named by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as an "affront" to the President's authority. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV