Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
Independent, Albay
03 July 2012
LAGMAN: JBC, PNOY ACCOUNTABLE
FOR CHOICE OF NEXT CHIEF JUSTICE
Nominees for Supreme Court Chief Justice have full discretion to accept or decline their nomination, but it is for the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to recommend for presidential appointment at least three of the most qualified and truly independent-minded nominees from whom the President will make his choice.
However, the buck stops with President Benigno Aquino III as the appointing authority.
Since the President was instrumental in the impeachment of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona by the House of Representatives and he campaigned publicly for his conviction by the Senate, he must then desist from appointing as Corona’s successor any nominee who participated in the trial of Corona either as prosecutor, judge or witness, or one who is perceived to have coveted the position of Chief Magistrate.
The standards of not being beholden to the appointing power, impartiality, credibility and independence must constitute the same inflexible yardstick by which the President ought to measure the next Chief Justice.
What were perceived as the negative factors which rooted out Corona must be the same factors which must weed out potential errant nominees.