Wednesday, November 29, 2006 Public screening of bets for chief justice set Wednesday
IT WILL be the turn of an incumbent senator and five Supreme Court (SC) magistrates vying for the post of chief justice to undergo public grilling in Wednesday's first-ever public interview before the Judicial and Bar Council.
Five of the 15 most senior associate justices are scheduled to undergo a public interview before the JBC along with Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago before their names could be submitted to the President for consideration once Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban retires on December 7.
Among the justices contending to the post were Senior Associate Justice Reynato Puno, Associate Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrrez and Antonio Carpio.
But before the interview could ever take place, the justices who were automatically nominated for the top judicial post were reportedly planning to boycott the public interview to be conducted by the eight-man JBC panel.
A source who works for one of the nominees said the decision was reached following the SC's regular en banc session Tuesday.
"The justices sent individual letters. They wrote the JBC declining the invitation for interview," said the source who requested anonymity.
The possible non-attendance of the justices would leave Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago as the only nominee to be interviewed by the panel.
Under the 1987 Constitution, the JBC shall have the principal function of recommending to the President appointees to the judiciary and may exercise such other functions and duties as the SC may assign to it.
But although the JBC is under the direct supervision of the SC, candidates should be ready to bare all in screenings, a coalition of law groups pushing for the interview said in a forum attended by lawyer and former senator Rene Saguisag and former Vice President Teofisto Guingona.
The Supreme Court Appointments Watch (Scaw) convenor Vincent Lazatin said justices, just like other public servants, should also observe transparency.
This was concurred in by Saguisag, who said during the forum that said those contenders who are unwilling to undergo public scrutiny and appear before the JBC "should resign their office."
Saguisag said magistrates continue to be the exception to the mandatory filing of Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) by public officials.
"It's their morality at stake as public servants. They can be asked, they are also accountable to the people. If they don't, they should resign. Kung hindi sila matanong (If they do not ask questions), they should be disqualified. Let it be on record that they refused to be asked by the sovereign people," he said.
Scaw also asked Panganiban, ex-officio chairman of the JBC, urged for "live television" coverage of the public interview but they have yet to get a reply.
"While there may be some concerns that live media could take away from the solemnity and very serious nature of the interviews, we think that the experience with the impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada proved that media can respect the solemnity of such events and the same time reach a wide and interested audience." the Scaw said in a letter to Panganiban.
The public interview will be held starting at 1 p.m. at the SC Old Session Hall, a week before Panganiban's retirement.
Each applicant will be interviewed alphabetically by members of the JBC panel. Each will be allotted 30 minutes for the interview but it may go beyond that time if necessary.
As concurrent JBC ex-officio chairman, Panganiban will lead the panel. Other JBC ex-officio members are Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales Sr., Senator Francis Pangilinan, Representative Simeon Datumanong, while the regular JBC members are Dean Amado Dimayuga, retired Court of Appeals Justice Regino Hermosisima, Jr., Atty. J Conrado Castro, and retired Sandiganbayan Justice Raoul Victorino.
A similar public scrutiny proposal was stopped last year after one magistrate, Carpio, protested the measure claiming that it would diminish the office and open the officials to harassment.
The JBC scrapped what could have been the first public interview of the three leading candidates for Chief Justice following the retirement of then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., in deference to the sentiments of 12 members of the high court.
The 12 justices argued that the public interview is a "departure from established practice" in the selection of nominees for the Chief Justice considering that since the creation of the 1987 Constitution, the JBC never interviewed nominees who are incumbent justices of the SC. (ECV/Sunnex)
