Palace denies pressure on SC to keep Jardeleza on list

Natashya Gutierrez

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Palace denies pressure on SC to keep Jardeleza on list
Malacañang says President Benigno Aquino III 'respects the process of the Supreme Court' which ruled that Francis Jardeleza deserved to be in the running for the post

MANILA, Philippines – A few hours after the appointment of Solicitor General Francis H. Jardeleza as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Malacañang denied exerting any pressure on the High Court which had overruled an earlier decision of the Judicial Bar Council (JBC) to remove Jardeleza from its nominees’ list.

On Wednesday, August 20, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that President Benigno Aquino III “respects the process of the Supreme Court.”

“Remember, there was a petition filed by Solicitor General Jardeleza and the constitutional deadline for appointing was today. On an appointment, whether the Supreme Court accepted the petition or ruled the petition one way or the other, there would have been an appointment by today,” Lacierda said.

He added, “It just so happens that the President felt that the right person for the job is Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza.”

The 64-year-old Jardeleza was initially excluded from the short list of candidates submitted to Aquino, over integrity issues raised by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who chairs the JBC.  (READ: The inside story: Jardeleza accused of disloyalty to PH)

Jardeleza’s integrity was reportedly questioned after he, as the government’s lawyer, deleted a “portion” in the memorandum to be submitted by the Philippines to a United Nations-backed tribunal that seeks to challenge China’s claims in the West Philippine Sea – a move sources said would have been a “colossal mistake.”

Rappler sources had said that Jardeleza had initially excluded the Taiwan-controlled Itu Aba, the largest island in the contested Spratly Group of Islands, from the historic memorial to appease China and help restore normal ties. The deleted portion was reinserted at the last minute.

Asked whether Aquino saw the integrity question as a concern, Lacierda said that the final pleading filed before the arbitral tribunal on March 30, 2014, included Itu Aba.

Lacierda emphasized that the Supreme Court “decided for us on that point” on whether Jardeleza’s name would be included – and that the President merely selected him from the vetted shortlist. (READ: Solgen asks SC to stop Aquino from picking next justice)

“The Supreme Court decided for us on that point, on whether the name of [the] Solicitor General should be included in the shortlist….The Supreme Court having made the decision, his name was also submitted to the President for the shortlist,” he said.

Lacierda also said the initial exclusion of the important portion from the memo is no longer an issue.

“Despite the issues raised by the JBC, the final pleadings submitted and the final memorial submitted to the ITLOS (International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea) was the pleading that included that – Itu Aba. So there was no issue with respect to the integrity issue,” he said.

The President’s spokesman also defended Jardeleza’s credentials and performance, which he said were the basis for his selection. 

“He is qualified. Credentials-wise, academic-wise, he is qualified. As a practicing lawyer, he is also very well qualified. So in his work as Ombudsman and in his work as Solicitor General, Francis Jardeleza has shown the integrity, the competence required of the position that he has, of the position that he has assumed in the previous work experience,” he said.

Jardeleza’s appointment comes amid clashes between Aquino and the Supreme Court, which started after the High Tribunal declared as unconstitutional certain executive actions under the administration’s controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

What followed was a back and forth between the two branches ranging from probing court spending to the rejection by the JBC of Jardeleza as a nominee.

Aquino will have another chance to appoint his choice to the High Court before he ends his term, when Justice Martin Villarama retires on April 14, 2016.

A Philippine president is barred from making appointments two months before the May elections and until the end of the president’s term on June 30, but a 2010 Supreme Court ruling exempts appointments to the High Court from the rule Rappler.com

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Natashya Gutierrez

Natashya is President of Rappler. Among the pioneers of Rappler, she is an award-winning multimedia journalist and was also former editor-in-chief of Vice News Asia-Pacific. Gutierrez was named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders for 2023.