Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Senator Panfilo "Ping" Lacson. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Don’t even think about it.
This, in a nutshell, was the unsolicited advice of Senator Panfilo Lacson to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who is among the “outsiders” who may be nominated to the post of Chief Justice.
Lacson said De Lima should refuse any nomination outright, when the senator was told that the justice secretary and acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio had decided against participating in the deliberations by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) on nominations for the next Chief Justice.
“Unfortunately for her, she may not be qualified because she has a pending disbarment case, and I heard from inside sources at the Supreme Court that if you have a pending disbarment case, you are automatically disqualified,” Lacson told Senate reporters.
De Lima and President Benigno Aquino’s spokesperson, Edwin Lacierda, are both facing a disbarment case in the Integrated Bar of the Philippines stemming from a complaint by private lawyer Agustin Sundiam.
Sundiam asked the high court to mete out disciplinary action to De Lima and Lacierda for their remarks at a press conference in which they called then Chief Justice Renato Corona a “lawless tyrant.”
Dacer killing
The animosity between Lacson and De Lima is an offshoot of the decision of the justice secretary to insist on an arrest warrant against the senator despite the court’s dismissal of the case filed against him over the killings of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and his driver, Emmanuel Corbito.
Lacson went into hiding for over a year and surfaced only in March 2011, after the warrant of arrest was lifted by the court.
The senator also cited De Lima’s disobedience to the temporary restraining order (TRO) the high court issued on Nov. 15, 2011, which lifted the travel ban on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo.
“I think propriety dictates that in case she is nominated [for the Chief Justice post], she should beg off. First, she was at loggerheads with the Supreme Court not just with the former Chief Justice, but the court [itself] because of the defiance of the TRO,” Lacson said.
“But of course, she is well within her rights to accept if there is a nomination. But first things first—the problem is, she might not qualify because of the disbarment case.”