JBC dialogues with Visayas stakeholders

Feedback from the public and fellow lawyers is vital in ensuring the integrity in selecting judges.

This was pushed by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) during a dialogue with stakeholders in the Visayas at the Radisson Blu Hotel yesterday.

“It is important for us to select a good judge, one who has unquestionable integrity. We can only achieve institutional integrity if each stakeholder will give us information regarding our applicants,” said Milagros Fernan-Cayosa, regular member of the JBC, representing the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP).

“It will allow us to evaluate carefully each and every application so we can only submit those who deserve to be appointed to the judiciary,” Cayosa added.

The dialogue was attended by Court of Appeals (CA) justices, Regional Trial Court (RTC) judges, officers of IBP chapters in the Visayas, lawyers from the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), prosecutors, and deans of law schools.

It was the first time that the JBC conducted the dialogue with stakeholders since 2008.

“We will also do this in Mindanao. This must be done in regular basis so your views will be heard. So you will also know what we are doing in the JBC. So this can be a collective effort to improve the selection and nomination process,” Cayosa said.

According to JBC member Aurora Santiago-Lagman, applicants will be assessed based on the following set of criteria: 20 percent for educational background; 15 percent for work experience; 15 percent for work performance; 20 percent for integrity; 20 percent for good physical and mental health; and 10 percent for related accomplishments.

“We admit that integrity of applicants is very hard to determine. We have to verify records, and we even request the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to help in conducting background check,” Lagman said.

IBP Iloilo chapter president Aila Endonila said some nominees for judgeship in their area are not familiar to them.

To this, Cayosa said that they will be promoting the use of e-mail to forward documents and background information about the nominees.

Cayosa also encouraged IBP chapters to use e-mail in sending feedbacks on nominees saying that even last minute feedback can play a crucial role in their decision making.

The JBC is in Cebu since yesterday until Thursday to conduct interviews, psychological exams and psychiatric evaluation of applicants to judgeship positions of courts in the Visayas. /Jose Santino S. Bunachita, Correspondent