Lawyers block moves to allow Arroyo to appoint new SC chief

A group of human rights lawyers on Monday blocked moves that seek to allow President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint the replacement of Chief Justice Reynato Puno. In its opposition-in-intervention filed before the Supreme Court, the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said that an outgoing president is prohibited from making appointments 60 days before the presidential elections and until June 30. "In (her) desire to appoint a new chief justice, President Arroyo will be transgressing several laws and the Constitution and will also be breaking a long tradition already in place in our judicial system, and will also be encroaching upon the powers and the independence of the judiciary," the NUPL said in a statement issued on Monday. Earlier, the Philippine Constitution Association and lawyers Jaime Soriano, Arturo de Castro, and former solicitor general Estelito Mendoza argued in their petitions that Mrs. Arroyo can pick Puno’s successor because the prohibition on appointments during the election period does not apply to positions in the judiciary. In his separate 12-page taxpayers’ suit, De Castro said that the Judicial and Bar Council is not given the constitutional mandate to decide if it can or cannot submit to Mrs. Arroyo a list of nominees for the chief justice post. However, the NUPL said that President Arroyo is not allowed to appoint a new chief justice because of at least three reasons:

• The President may not appoint anyone for the position of Chief Justice, as there is yet no vacancy for that position. Puno will retire on May 17, 2010. Only until Puno vacates his position will an actual vacancy be created;
• In the event of a vacancy, the President is still prohibited to appoint, since the vacancy in the Chief Justice position will fall within the prohibited period of sixty (60) days before the presidential elections. Such an appointment is referred to as a "midnight appointment," which is expressly prohibited by none other than the Constitution, the highest law of the land; and
• There are already rules in place should such a vacancy occur, and the most senior justice on the bench shall become Chief Justice in an acting capacity, until the new president appoints a new Chief Justice.