DOJ chief: JBC may scrap list of nominees for chief justice

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) may no longer submit a list of applicants for Chief Justice to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo if more nominees follow Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales’ move and refuse the nomination, Justice Secretary Alberto Agra admitted Friday. Agra, an ex-officio member of the JBC, said the council could only submit a list to the President but if there are at least three names. “(Kung umatras ang iba), di kami makapag-submit ng list kay pangulo pag nagkaroon ng vacancy sa May 17. Kung 1-2 ang interesado o qualified we have to start the process again at baka di umabot sa deadline (If the others back out, we cannot submit a list to the president once there is a vacancy on May 17. If only one or two are still interested or qualified, we have to start the process again and we may no longer be able to meet the May 17 deadline)," he said in an interview on dzXL radio. Chief Justice Reynato Puno is due to retire on May 17, even as the Supreme Court gave Mrs. Arroyo the green light to select the next Chief Justice. President Arroyo’s critics claim her selection of a new Chief Justice may give her great influence over the Supreme Court, all of whose justices are her appointees. Earlier this week, Carpio-Morales joined her distant relative Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio in declining JBC’s invitation for interview for applicants to the Chief Justice post. In a letter on April 14, she said she decided to withdraw her nomination on account of the High Court’s decision on March 14, allowing Mrs. Arroyo to appoint Puno’s successor. Carpio-Morales was the lone dissenter of the hotly questioned March 14 ruling of the Supreme Court. Aside from Carpio-Morales and Carpio, other nominees are Associate Justices Renato Corona, Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Arturo Brion, and Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval. Court administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the JBC will proceed with the nomination process despite the withdrawal of the two nominees. But Agra also said the JBC may meet to discuss the matter, as well as motions for reconsideration on the high court’s decision letting Mrs. Arroyo select the next Chief Justice. “Baka maging kapasyahan ng JBC hintayin ang kapasyahan ng Korte Suprema maraming motions for reconsideration before we actually submit our list (The JBC may wait for the high court’s decision on motions for reconsideration regarding its decision)," he said. — LBG, GMANews.TV