JBC extends deadline for SC justice applications

Aspirants to the Supreme Court (SC) bench, who failed to meet the March 28 application deadline, have been given another chance to vie for the two upcoming vacancies in the high tribunal. The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), the body that vets and screens nominees for vacant judicial posts, has extended to April 29 the applications and nominations for the posts that Associate Justices Eduardo Nachura and Conchita Carpio-Morales will vacate this year. "It has been brought to the attention of the JBC that some applicants for SC justice failed to submit their applications or nominations within the 10-day application period ending 28 March 2011, which was found to be 'too short,'" SC spokesman and court administrator Jose Midas Marquez said in a statement Monday. “Thus, the JBC, in its meeting this morning, has decided to still consider until April 29, 2011, 5 p.m., the applications and nominations" according to the court administrator. Those who will go for the April 29 deadline, however, must give a "valid justification for failing to apply within the earlier period," he said. Nachura and Carpio-Morales will reach the mandatory retirement age — 70 — next June and July, respectively. The 1987 Constitution tasks the JBC to recommend appointees to the judiciary. For vacancies in the high tribunal and the lower courts, the council submits a shortlist of at least three nominees for the President to consider. The JBC is composed of the Supreme Court justice as ex-officio chair, with the Justice secretary, and chairs of the House and Senate justice committees as ex-officio members. The four other regular members come from representatives of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the academe, the private sector, and a retired member of the Supreme Court. 28 aspirants Sources from the Supreme Court said there were 28 applicants for the two upcoming vacancies. These include 17 Court of Appeals (CA) justices, two Sandiganbayan justices, two Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) justices, a delegate of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, a Commission on Elections commissioner and other law practitioners. These are CA presiding justice Andres Reyes Jr. and Associate Justices Hakim Abdulwahid, Japar Dimaampao, Ramon Bato Jr., Estela Perlas Bernabe, Apolinario Bruselas Jr., Mariflor Punzalan-Castillo, Stephen Cruz, Magdangal de Leon, Isaias Dicdican, Remedios Salazar-Fernando, Portia Alino-Hormachuelos, Bienvenido Reyes, Jose Reyes Jr., Noel Tijam and Vicente Veloso. From the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, the applicants were Associate Justices Francisco Villaruz and Alex Quiroz, and aspirants from the CTA were Justices Lovell Bautista and Juanito Castañeda Jr. The other aspirants included Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, constitutionalist Rodolfo Robles, former UP law dean Raul Pangalangan, lawyer Tomas Cabili and law books author Francis Jardeleza. There were also other aspirants coming from the judiciary, including deputy court administrator Nimfa Vilches and Biñan, Laguna Regional Trial Court Judge Marino Rubia. — VS, GMA News