JBC: How they voted on CJ shortlist

MANILA, Philippines – The Judicial and Bar Council nominated 8 lawyers – 5 Supreme Court justices and 3 SC outsiders – for the position of chief justice on Monday, August 13.

On the shorlist are Acting chief justice Antonio Carpio; Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Roberto Abad, Arturo Brion, Lourdes Sereno; Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza; former San Juan Rep Ronaldo Zamora; and Cesar Villanueva, head of the newly-formed Governance Commission for the GOCCs or government-owned and controlled corporations.

Here’s how the 8-member council voted:

Justice Diosdado Peralta: He voted for the SC insiders – Carpio, De Castro, Velasco, Abad and Brion – except one, Justice Lourdes Sereno.

Peralta and Sereno may have cast different votes in political cases under the Arroyo administration, but the same could be said of Peralta and Carpio.

For instance, Peralta voted in 2010 with the majority opinion that Executive Order 1 forming the Truth Commission, which was supposed to probe Arroyo, is unconstitutional. Carpio, Sereno and Abad dissented. Peralta voted for the issuance of a temporary restraining order that favored Arroyo and her husband, lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo, in 2011; Sereno and Carpio dissented.

But in the public interviews of chief justice nominees, Peralta raised concern about Sereno’s age. The lady magistrate is only 52; if appointed she will serve for 18 years as chief justice following the mandatory retirement age of 70 for justices.

Peralta asked Sereno during her July 27 public interview if her age should matter in the selection. Sereno said she didn’t think so, saying she headed the Preparatory Commission on Constitutional Reform when she was only 39, with the commission’s members older than she was.

Undersecretary Michael Frederick Musngi – He voted for Justices Carpio, Abad and Sereno; Zamora; Villanueva; Securities and Exchange Commission chairperson Teresita Herbosa; and Presidential Commission on Good Governance Andres Bautista.

Four of them are, like Musngi, appointees of President Benigno Aquino III: Villanueva, Bautista, Jardeleza and Herbosa.

Musngi also worked for Zamora as a volunteer lawyer during one of the latter’s campaigns.

 

It was Sereno who penned the decision acquitting Musngi of homicide in a hazing case that killed Jose Leonardo “Lenny” Villa in 1991; Carpio concurred in the 2012 ruling. 

Musngi, however, did not vote for Brion, who also concurred in the Villa decision. Brion voted for the non-disclosure of the dollar accounts of former Chief Justice Renato Corona at the height of the latter’s impeachment trial.

Sen. Francis Escudero: He was the only one who did not vote for Carpio, who got 7 votes from the council. When Rappler asked him why, he replied: “Should I?”

Escudero had warned President Benigno Aquino III against appointing Carpio, saying his appointment would not be in good taste since Carpio has been accused of pushing for Corona’s impeachment.

Escudero voted for Brion, Velasco, Sereno, Jardeleza, Herbosa, Zamora, La Salle law dean Jose Manuel Diokno, former UP law dean Raul Pangalangan, and Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. 

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas: He voted for Abad, Brion, Carpio, Jardeleza, De Castro, Pangalangan, Sereno and Zamora.

Tupas, who served as lead prosecutor in Corona’s impeachment trial, voted for two SC justices who were on opposing sides: Abad and Sereno. Abad was asked by the defense at the time to appear as a witness for Corona, while Tupas had wanted Sereno to testify against the impeached chief justice.

Abad also dissented in an SC ruling stating that there should only be one congressional representative in the JBC; there are currently two – Escudeo and Tupas.

Retired Justice Regino Hermosisima: He voted for Abad, Brion, Carpio, Pangalangan, De Castro, Velasco, Villanueva and Zamora.

He again did not vote for Sereno; he also did not vote for her in 2010, when she was nominated for associate justice.

Retired Court of Appeals Justice Aurora Lagman: She voted for Brion, Carpio, Herbosa, Jardeleza, De Castro, Sereno, Villanueva and Zamora. 

La Salle law professor Jose Mejia: He voted for Abad, Brion, Carpio, Diokno, Jardeleza, Sereno, Villanueva and Zamora. Mejia taught in La Salle law school, whose dean is Diokno. 

Integrated Bar of the Philippines representative Milagros Fernan-Cayosa: Cayosa voted for Abad, Bautista, Carpio, Herbosa, Jardeleza, De Castro, Sereno and Villanueva. – Rappler.com

More in #SCWatch:

• De Lima did not have the votes. Period.
• JBC disqualifies De Lima from CJ race
• How JBC’s 5 votes can change the game
• 22 official candidates for Chief Justice
• JBC to interview CJ candidates starting July 24
• 25 accept nominations for chief justice
• Questions for chief justice candidates
• JBC should review process of choosing CJ
• Besides JBC, Palace has judicial search committee
• CONVERSATIONS: How should the JBC choose the next chief justice? #SCWatch