JBC tells aspirants to SC post: Pass your papers by Nov. 23

Those aspiring to fill up the post to be vacated by Supreme Court Associate Justice Martin Villarama have barely a week to submit their applications as well as recommendations to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

The JBC has set the deadline for the submission of recommendations (with conforme), applications including personal data sheets on Nov. 23, while submission of supporting documents should be done by Dec. 8.

The JBC opened the nomination for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court last Nov. 11 after the high court approved the bid of Villarama to optionally retire effective Jan. 16, 2016, due to deteriorating health.

“The undersigned most earnestly request your good office for the approval by the Supreme Court en banc of his application for Optional Retirement,” Villarama said in a letter dated Nov. 2, 2015, addressed to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno copy furnished the other Supreme Court justices.

“This request is being made for reason of the undersigned’s deteriorating health condition,” Villarama said.

His condition was brought about by his double-knee metal implantation in 2013 and his cataract operation in 2014.

“For several years, he has been experiencing difficulty in breathing, hypertension and symptoms of prostate illness prevalent among aging men,” the letter stated.

Villarama will turn 70, the mandatory retirement age for members of the judiciary, on April 14, 2016.

He started his career in the Judiciary in 1970 as a Supreme Court Technical Assistant. He rose from the ranks to become a Regional Trial Court Judge in 1986, then a Court of Appeals Associate Justice in 1998 and a Supreme Court Associate Justice in 2009. AU