Acting chief justice convenes Judicial and Bar Council

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday ordered the convening of the Judicial and Bar Council as a first step to determine the successor of Renato Corona, who was removed as Supreme Court chief justice by the Senate on Tuesday.

Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra, the tribunal’s acting spokesperson, said Carpio set the special session of the eight-member JBC on Monday to discuss the vacancy in the high court.

As acting chief justice and the most senior magistrate of the tribunal, Carpio will sit as acting ex-officio chairman of the JBC, which is tasked with drawing up lists of candidates to fill empty judicial positions from which the President will pick his appointees.

“The meeting (of the JBC) is set on Monday. The JBC (secretariat) will issue the notices to the members,” Guerra told the Inquirer over the phone.

Carpio is considered the frontrunner to succeed Corona since he is the most senior of the 14 remaining justices of the high court.

Guerra said the JBC—also composed of the Secretary of Justice, representatives of Congress, the Integrated Bar and the private sector, a professor of law and a retired member of the Supreme Court—is authorized by the Constitution to lead the selection process of the next chief magistrate.

Guerra said President Aquino has 90 days to name Corona’s successor and fill up the 15th slot vacated by Corona.—With Tetch Torres, INQUIRER.net