SC dismisses petition questioning JBC authority, PNoy power to appoint CJ

The Supreme Court has dismissed for lack of merit a petition seeking to halt the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) search for nominees to fill post left vacant by the impeachment of former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

In their petition, Attorney Homobono Adaza, Attorney Alan Paguia, Herman Tiu Laurel and Uriel Borja said the JBC had no authority based in the Constitution for the conduct of its search for nominees for chief justice.

They claimed further that there is no provision in the Constitution empowering the President to appoint a chief justice. They said the President can only appoint members of the high court.

Citing the Famela Dulay vs. JBC case, the court upheld the JBC selection process for the Chief Justice and the power of the President’s power to appoint one.

The SC said the Constitution provides that “members of the Supreme Court and the judges of lower courts shall be appointed by the President from a list of at least three nominees prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council for every vacancy.”

In that case, the high court upheld the JBC’s actions in the selection process for the Chief Justice as well as the President’s power to appoint one.

On the pending petitions that questioned the jurisdiction of the Senate in the Corona impeachment case, the court said, “Said petitions should not bar the JBC from performing its duty of selecting the nominees for the vacant post, and the President from making the appointment.”

The court added that the JBC has a constitutionally-set deadline of 90 days from the date of the vacancy.

The 90-day limitation “cannot be defeated by the pendency of the cases referred to by the petitioners,” the Court said in its resolution.