Duterte turning SC into Red Lions den?

Supreme Court facade. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Is President Duterte out to make the Supreme Court a den of Red Lions?

Mr. Duterte has made his first appointments to the Supreme Court—Justices Samuel Martires and Noel Tijam, both graduates of his alma mater, San Beda College of Law.

Martires, a former justice on the Sandiganbayan, replaced Justice Jose Perez, who retired from the Supreme Court last December.

A former justice on the Court of Appeals, Tijam took the Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice Arturo Brion, who also retired last December.

Mr. Duterte has made known his preference for his schoolmates at San Beda in choosing officials for his administration.

12 appointments

He is expected to make at least 12 appointments to the Supreme Court during his six-year term, which expires in 2022.

Besides Martires and Tijam, he can appoint two more justices to the high court this year, with Justice Bienvenido Reyes retiring in July and Justice Jose Mendoza retiring in August.

Two vacancies will occur on the high court next year, with the retirements of Justice Presbitero Velasco in August and of Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro in October.

Four magistrates will retire in 2019—Justice Mariano del Castillo in July, Justice Francis Jardeleza in September, Senior Justice Antonio Carpio and Justice Lucas Bersamin in October.

Unlike justices on the Supreme Court of the United States, who serve for life, justices on the Supreme Court of the Philippines retire at 70.

Both Martires and Tijam are 68 and will serve only for two years. If Mr. Duterte is still in power by 2019—he says he may not be able to complete his term—he can appoint replacements for them, bringing to 12 his total appointments to the Supreme Court.

Of the current justices on the high court, only Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Justices Marvic Leonen and Alfredo Caguioa will outlast Mr. Duterte in office.

From other schools

Despite Mr. Duterte’s preference for Red Lions, presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said not all of the next appointees to the Supreme Court would come from San Beda.

“He is, like I said, he is a man who listens. He is a man who’s deeply interested. He is a man who studies his subject matter and certainly he can go beyond his alma mater,” Abella told reporters on Thursday when asked whether Mr. Duterte intended to pack the Supreme Court with San Beda graduates.

Mr. Duterte’s decisions are guided not by personal interest but by public interest, Abella said.

“From what we can see, from his gauge, for public interest first. He must probably have seen that these classmates, these schoolmates were within the standards that he demanded,” he said.

Abella said Mr. Duterte’s future choices may not come from San Beda. He added, however, that Mr. Duterte’s “contacts” were “limited within a certain scope.”

With the appointments of Martires and Tijam, there are now four Red Lions on the Supreme Court. The other two are Mendoza and Reyes.

The President chooses appointees to the Supreme Court from candidates short-listed by the Judicial and Bar Council, which vets candidates for all judicial positions.

Before his appointment to the Supreme Court earlier this week, Martires was a member of the Third Division of the Sandiganbayan, which is hearing the plunder and graft charges against businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains behind the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Tijam, a classmate of Mr. Duterte at San Beda, was chair of the Seventh Division of the Court of Appeals before his appointment to the high court on Wednesday.

Among the high-profile cases handled by his division were the murders of radio commentator Gerry Ortega and Ruby Rose Barrameda. —WITH A REPORT FROM ANA ROA, INQUIRER RESEARCH