MANILA, Philippines –  Oriental Mindoro 2nd District Representative Reynaldo Umali wants the Supreme Court (SC) to reverse its ruling that removed one of two seats for legislators at the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

In his petition for certiorari and mandamus filed on Thursday, December 29, Umali urged the High Court to reconsider its 2013 decision which affirmed that lawmakers will only have one representative in the JBC.

Such an arrangement means that the justice committee chairpersons of the House of Representatives and the Senate – Umali and Senator Richard Gordon in the 17th Congress – are ex-officio members of the JBC.  

Under the arrangement, Umali sits in the council from January to June, and Gordon from July to December. (EXPLAINER: How the Judicial and Bar Council works)

The lawmaker said he attended the JBC’s en banc sessions on December 2 and 9 for the deliberations on the vacant positions in the SC, the Court of Appeals, and the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan. 

He said the JBC did not recognize his vote because the sessions were held outside Umali’s designated period as an ex-officio member.

Umali argued in his petition that the JBC’s current membership set-up for lawmakers is problematic since President Rodrigo Duterte will appoint 10 SC magistrates to replace retiring justices in the next 3 years. 

“If we will follow that rotational scheme or practice, then I can only vote on two justices while the Senate will vote on 6 justices or can nominate the 6 justices. So this is kind of absurd and I felt that there was a need for me to raise this issue,” Umali told reporters.

The lawmaker urged the SC to declare the JBC’s current 6-month rotational representation of Congress in the JBC as unconstitutional. 

“The JBC be directed to revert back to its prior representational arrangement where two representatives from Congress are recognized and allowed to vote, or the status quo ante, prior to the Chavez ruling, and in accordance with such specific guidelines that the Supreme Court will promulgate to ensure full and proper representation and voting by both members from the Senate and the House of Representatives, and thereafter to recognize, accept and count the votes cast by the petitioner Umali in all proceedings of the JBC,” said Umali in his complaint. 

Read Umali’s full petition for certiorari and mandamus below:

– Rappler.com