Francisco Chavez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez branded as “childish” Congress’ threat on possibility that it may not send a representative to the Judicial and Bar Council’s deliberation to narrow down the candidates for the Chief Justice post.
“Not sending a representative to the JBC is a childish threat…Growing old is inevitable but growing up is an option,” Chavez told the high court during the oral argument held Thursday.
Chavez insisted that there should only be one representative of Congress to the JBC instead of two.
“There is no inadvertence. There is pure intent to provide only one representative from Congress,” Chavez said adding that there is no need to resort to applying the spirit of the law in interpreting the provision of the Constitution which provides for members of the JBC because the law clearly states “a representative of Congress.”
“There are two kinds of spirit—the bad spirit and the good spirit. The good spirit says stick to the language of the law,” Chavez added.
The former solicitor-general also argued that the Congress cannot hold hostage the JBC deliberation by not sending a representative.
He said if Congress fails to send a representative, it is just one member and there are six others, meaning there is still a quorum.
“Proceed with the deliberation, mark them absent,” Chavez said.
After the oral argument, the high court justices proceeded to deliberate on the case.
However, the high court opted to continue its deliberation on Friday.