Aquino may pick outsider as new chief justice

President Benigno Aquino III

ILOILO CITY, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III said Friday he is not bound by law or tradition to choose the next chief justice from among the incumbent members of the high court. In addition, he did not relish the idea of having to pick a chief justice from a group that had kept their financial statements away from public scrutiny.

Aquino said the tradition of appointing chief justices from among the incumbents may be “a good consideration” but he pointed out that doing so would mean choosing from among the same magistrates who allowed a 1989 Supreme Court resolution to keep their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, which as essentially public documents,  under luck and key.

Aquino said he believed the practice of locking away the justices’ SALNs was a violation of the constitutional provision that government officials publicly disclose their statements of net worth.

“If I remember our Constitution correctly, it says the Judicial and Bar Council would give us a list from where I would choose who’d I appoint, and there’s no injunction there that limits it to current members of the Supreme Court,” Aquino told reporters.

The President was in Iloilo to address the First International River Summit here.

Told that choosing a chief justice from among the members of the Supreme Court was a tradition, Aquino answered, “Tradition is a good consideration. But it is important to ensure the efficiency of the institution and serving and addressing our people’s need.”

“Let’s not forget that one of the issues in the impeachment trial [of former Chief Justice Renato Corona] was the SALNs that were kept in a locked filing cabinet, and many among them continued implementing the resolution from 1989 or thereabouts,” Aquino said.

“After they continued the system, is it right that only because of tradition we should choose from among the ranks of those that maintained the system that we believe is against what the Constitution says that [the SALN] should be shown to the public?” he added.

Still, Aquino said, the next chief justice may come from outside the tribunal or from among the present members of the Supreme Court.

“So there is a very distinct possibility the chief justice can come from the outside or can come from within,” Aquino said.

The President welcomed the news that the justices have agreed to release their SALNs to the public.

“That’s good and that’s exactly consistent with what the Constitution…. dictates,” Aquino said.