The Court of Appeals. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Twenty-two nominees made it to the Judicial and Bar Council’s (JBC) shortlist of possible successors to three recently vacated seats in the Court of Appeals.
Among the 22 nominees were Witness Protection Program chief Martin Menez and Interior and Local Government Secretary Rafael Santos, who had been previously nominated for but did not make the cut for the position of Sandiganbayan presiding justice.
Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, who chairs the JBC, submitted on Wednesday the shortlist of nominees to President Aquino who has 90 days to make the appointments.
The vacancies in the appeals court resulted from the mandatory retirement of Associate Justices Rosalinda Asuncion-Vicente, Angelita Gacutan and Pampilo Abarintos.
In her two-page letter to President Aquino through Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., the 22 nominees and the votes they garnered from the six-member JBC are the following:
For the position vacated by Vicente—Ma. Filomena Dumandan Singh (six votes); Celso Opalo Baguio (five votes) and Philip Acosta Aguinaldo, Perpetua Atal-Pano, Emmanuel Quisumbing Fernando and Wilfredo Tolentino Nieves (all with four votes);
For the position vacated by Gacutan—Menez (six votes); Geraldine Catingub Fiel-Macaraig and Pablito Alhambra Perez (five); Jeoffre Willkom Acebido, Cresencio Fortunato Ramos Balasbas, Ma. Celestina C. Cruz-Mangrobang, Ma. Conchita Lucero-de Mesa and Gabriel Tadena Robeniol (four);
For the position vacated by Abarintos—Selma Paalcio Alaras and Rafael Santos (six votes); Maria Amifaith Sarmiento Fider-Reyes, Jonel Sebastian Soto Mercado and Ruben Reynaldo de Guzman Roxas (five) and Divinafracia Bustos-Ongkeko, Geraldine Faith Abracia Econg and Alex Luna Monteclar (four).
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