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Monday, September 05, 2005
Transparency in choosing next high court chief sought
EVEN as the Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that it is not yet time for it to intervene in the impeachment proceedings at the House of Representatives, a group of lawyers has urged that selection of the successor of Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., who is set to retire on December 20 this year, should be transparent.
Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN), a coalition of law practitioners and civil society groups, said it will keep a close watch on the appointment process amid fears that Davide's successor would be an appointee that would suit President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is facing impeachment.
With just three signatories short of the required 79 for the impeachment complaint to be transmitted to the Senate for trial, attention would next be drawn to the Chief Justice who will preside over the proceedings with all the 24 senators sitting as judges.
Lawyer Marlon Manuel, TAN project director, said the process of selection and appointment of justices who would sit on the bench have becomes so "highly-politicized".
"The process itself is prone to politicization. If ever the impeachment will proceed, whoever will be appointed as Chief Justice will preside over the proceedings. By tradition, he will come from the sitting 15 justices of the SC. This is for the President to know that we are watching the appointment," Manuel said.
Under the 1987 Constitution, the authority to nominate appointees to the judiciary is vested in the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), which has eight members -- a representative of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), a law professor, a retired member of the high court, a representative of the private sector while the four others are non-regular members coming from Congress, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the SC.
From the list of at least three nominees endorsed by the council, the President has the sole discretion to make appointments to vacant judicial positions that would no longer need confirmation.
Manuel took note of a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey conducted in 2004 to track changes within the judiciary that showed 40 percent of the referendum of judges was not satisfied with the appointment process.
The group planned to propose mechanisms for civil society's participation in the appointment process as well as monitor the council's screening of the nominees to the vacant judicial positions.
Manuel said TAN, which included members of the IBP, the Makati Business Club and the Alternative Law groups, among others, would also carry on an information campaign to inform the public of the candidates.
"The President should be made accountable for the appointments she makes. We should know what kind of biases the justices have when they sit on the bench," TAN chair Vincent Lazatin said.
Davide, who is on his valedictory year, led the impeachment of ousted President Joseph Estrada in 2000.
Sources said two of Davide's successors include Justices Reynato Puno and Artemio Panganiban.
The SC on Friday denied the petition filed by lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. seeking to enjoin the House committee on justice from continuing with the impeachment proceedings against Arroyo.
Saying the petition is premature and "not yet ripe for adjudication," the high court said the House has yet to consider the justice committee's ruling to treat the opposition-led amended impeachment petition as a second impeachment complaint, and that it should "wait until all remedies in the House are exhausted."
House justice committee chair Simeon Datumanong practically snuffed out the three impeachment cases against Arroyo after treating the second complaint filed by lawyer Jose Rizalino Lopez and the amended version by the opposition as separate from the original complaint filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano, which was also thrown out for "insufficiency in substance". (ECV)
(September 5, 2005 issue)
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