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Thursday, November 17, 2005
Help pick SC chief
CLOSE to a month before Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. steps down as the judiciary’s top official, a civil society group is encouraging the public to be vigilant in the selection of his successor.
But the SC Appointments Watch (SCAW) will also push for a change in the Constitution, in the hope of clipping presidential powers in the selection of the chief justice.
The SCAW is touring the country to raise public awareness about the significance of the selection and to enhance venues for citizen participation in the selection process.
Under the law, it is the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) that nominates five names to the President for consideration as the next head of the SC.
According to JBC rules, the five most senior SC associate justices are automatically considered for the High Tribunal’s highest position.
Nominated for the position this year are Associate Justices Reynato S. Puno, Artemio V. Panganiban, Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago and Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez.
Historically, the most senior member of the 15-man SC is appointed to the position.
But on three occasions, this was not the case.
“The exceptions were only during the American Occupation, Japanese Occupation and Martial Law. We should even ask: Why should the President, who is from the executive department, be the one to choose the top official in the judiciary? With that set-up, the judiciary becomes so susceptible to the politics of the other departments,” lawyer Jose Roy III said.
While Article 8, Section 9 of the 1987 Constitution states that the President appoints judges and “members of the Supreme Court,” there is no specific mention of the chief justice’s position.
The President also appoints regular members of the Judicial and Bar Council.
“It is so sad that the appointment of the chief justice is only covered by the default provision of the appointing powers of the president,” Roy added.
According to him, the President’s authority to appoint the chief justice is only based on the “default provision” of Article 7, Section 16 that reads: (The President) “shall also appoint all other officers of the Government whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by law, and those whom he may be authorized by law to appoint.”
Lawyer Marlon Manuel of the Alternative Law Groups said they also want to contribute to the creation of “institutional mechanisms that enhance the transparency and accountability of the appointment process for the chief justice and the members of the SC.”
He said the people should be vigilant in the selection process so that the case of the appointment of Commission on Elections Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano will not be repeated.
Garcillano, who has shunned the public eye, was tagged as the one who talked with President Arroyo at the height of the 2004 presidential elections, allegedly to rig the vote. The President has apologized, saying the conversation was “a lapse in judgment,” but stressed that no cheating took place.
A sitting President who is successfully impeached undergoes trial before the Senate, with the chief justice as presiding officer. (GN)
(November 17, 2005 issue)
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