JBC extends deadline for Chief Justice nominations
MANILA, Philippines–The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has extended the submission of nominations for the Chief Justice post up to July 2.
The deadline for submission of nomination was supposed to end this Monday, June 18.
At present, there are 28 nominees for Chief Justice after Supreme Court Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe and Professor Soledad Cagampang-De Castro have been nominated to the top judicial post.
Former Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla has declined his nomination for the Chief Justice post.
Lotilla believed that it was still important to follow tradition of appointing a senior associate justice to the post to minimize politics.
“In the past, I took the position that in a highly politicized context as in the Philippines, appointment to the office of the Chief Justice based on seniority is a tradition that minimizes the jockeying for appointment from within and outside of the Court. I still have to be convinced of the wisdom of departing from that view,” Lotilla said in his letter when he declined his nomination.
