Wanted: 2 Supreme Court justices; applications to JBC

THE JUDICIAL and Bar Council (JBC) has opened nominations to two Supreme Court seats to be vacated in December.

Applications or recommendations for the seats of Associate Justices Jose Portugal Perez and Arturo D. Brion will be accepted until Sept. 20 and Oct. 4, respectively, the JBC said.

Perez and Brion both reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 on Dec. 14 and Dec. 29, respectively.
Requirements to be submitted to the JBC include birth and law school records, certificate of admission to the bar, certificate of employment, clearances from the Office of the Bar Confidant and Integrated Bar of the Philippines National Office.

Clearances from the National Bureau of Investigation, Ombudsman and police, medical records, recent income tax returns, government performance ratings and statements of assets, liabilities and net worth are also required.

Sample articles, opinions

Copies of sample decisions or pleadings, as well as treatises, articles and opinions are also required submission, as well as any document regarding any cases filed against the applicant.

The applicant will then be subjeced to a public interview to be broadcast online by the Supreme Court, the council said.

The seven-member multisectoral body will come up with a shortlist of nominees approved with at least half the votes. This will be forwarded to President Duterte, who will make his first two appointments to the high court.

The JBC is headed by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. Its members include the justice secretary and one representative each from Congress, the academe, retired SC justices, the private sector and the IBP.

Duterte is set to make at least 10 appointments to the Supreme Court by the end of his term in June 2022. Two more justices will retire during the last four months of his term./rga