SC announces revamp, new appointees in electoral tribunals

Chief Justice Renato Corona has reorganized the three divisions of the Supreme Court, which will resume its session on June 15, and reshuffled the magistrates who will become members of the electoral tribunals for the Senate and House of Representatives. The new assignments were contained in two orders issued by Corona when he assumed office last May 17 and released to the media this week. Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio will retain his position as chairperson of the Second Division and was also appointed as chair of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), where he will be joined by Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr. and Teresita Leonardo-De Castro. Meanwhile, Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales was designated as chairperson of the Third Division and the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET). Justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura and Arturo Brion were also appointed as members of the SC contingent in the HRET. “Their appointments are important considering that we just had elections. There might be protests filed before these tribunals," Court Administrator and SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez told reporters Thursday. The Philippine Constitution mandates the SET and HRET to render judgment on all protest cases regarding the election and qualification of senators and members of the House of Representatives. As chief justice, Corona will be sitting as the ex-officio chair of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), which is composed of the SC en banc and will handle election cases related to the position of president and vice president in the May 2010 automated elections. Corona’s position as PET chairman is crucial in the event of an election protest in the vice presidential race, which is being closely fought by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and Senator Manuel Roxas II. The National Board of Canvassers will resume their tally on Monday, with only five more certificates of canvass left to be counted. Binay is leading the race with 14,084,876 votes while Roxas has 13,440,127 votes. In 2004, defeated vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda filed an election protest against Noli de Castro, but the case was dismissed by the Supreme Court sitting as the PET in January 2008. In the reorganization order, Corona also designated Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. as the working chairperson of the high court’s First Division with Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Mariano Del Castillo and Jose Perez as members. Corona sits as ex-officio chairperson of the First Division. Justices Antonio Eduardo Nachura, Diosdado Peralta, Roberto Abad and Jose Mendoza were appointed as members of the second division. Morales will be joined in the third division by Justices Arturo Brion, Lucas Bersamin, Martin Villarama. The fourth member of the division will be filled by 15th Justice who will be appointed by the incoming president. Presidential front-runner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III had opposed the appointment of Corona and said he is likely to request Morales to administer his presidential oath on June 30 instead. Morales was the lone dissenter in the March 17 decision of the high court that exempted appointments to the SC from the constitutional ban on midnight appointments. The ruling became the basis for President Arroyo to appoint Corona as the successor of former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who retired last May 17. – YA, GMANews.TV