Santiago: De Lima, Henares not qualified for chief justice post
Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Monday said that Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Commissioner on Internal Revenue Kim Henares have “disqualified themselves morally” from being nominated as the next chief justice.
In a chance interview, Santiago said that though being members of the Cabinet does not disqualify them from being nominated by the Judicial and Bar Council for the chief justice post, the fact that they testified against Renato Corona during the impeachment trial will cast doubts over their nomination.
“It’s not necessarily disqualification to be a member of the Cabinet but if they participated in the impeachment trial, it cannot be helped but raise doubts in the minds of the public that they were testifying to get rid of the incumbent and replace him so I’m afraid they have disqualified themselves morally from that vantage point,” Santiago said.
The statement came after reporters asked the senator whether de Lima and Henares, whose names are being floated in the list of possible nominees for the chief justice post, were qualified for the position.
She added that President Benigno Aquino III is free to choose whoever he wishes to appoint as the chief justice, saying that the Supreme Court’s rule that the chief of the High Court must only come from their ranks is a “self-serving rule.”
“The rule about picking only incumbent members of the SC is an internal rule of the SC, in other words, it is a self-serving rule that the Supreme Court itself invented to prevent others from infiltrating their ranks. But I feel that that is invalid, that is an invalid limitation on the constitutional powers to appoint possessed only by the president and therefore, that is not effective,” Santiago said.
“Therefore, he is completely free as long as he chooses from the short list of the JBC,” she added.
Meanwhile, Santiago said that if either de Lima or Henares are included in the JBC’s shortlist, they should beg-off from the nomination.
“I think that they should just inform the JBC on their own volition they are not accepting the nomination,” she said.
