Supreme Court facade. — PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
Six Court of Appeals magistrates and a law school dean are on the short list of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) nominees for the Supreme Court seat to be vacated by Associate Justice Arturo D. Brion who is due to retire at the end of this month.
Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te said the JBC submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday its short list of seven nominees for the second vacancy in his six years in office. The President is expected to name a total of 12 SC magistrates by the end of his term in 2022.
The top vote-getter was Court of Appeals Justice Rosmari D. Carandang who obtained six of a possible seven votes from the JBC.
This the fourth time for the University of the Philippines School of Law graduate (1975) who was nominated for a court vacancy in 2011, 2012, and 2014.
The rest of the nominees were CA Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas Jr., Jose C. Reyes Jr., and Japar Dimaampao with five votes each; CA Associate Justices Amy C. Lazaro-Javier and Noel G. Tijam, and Centro Escolar University Law School Vice Dean Rita Linda S. Ventura-Jimeno with four votes each.
Brion will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 on Dec. 29, 2016. President Duterte has 90 days to name his replacement.
Bruselas, Reyes and Dimaampao have also been short-listed for the high court seat to be vacated by retiring Associate Justice Jose Perez on Dec. 14, 2016. —GIL C. CABACUNGAN