JBC composition, with 2 solons, violates PH Charter

From his perch as a member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), Sen. Chiz Escudero has been repeatedly issuing tendentious statements against Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio, regarding the latter’s qualifications for the chief justice position.

Senator Escudero should not pre-disqualify and prejudge Justice Carpio, and neither should he repeatedly “input” his anti-Carpio bias in the collegial JBC this early, much less disseminate the same to the media to influence public opinion. Apparently, he has forgotten that the JBC’s function is to vet the nominees, not pre-disqualify and pre-judge any one of them without the benefit of a hearing and formal investigation required in the vetting process and in the interest of fairness and transparency.

A fair shake should be guaranteed by all JBC members for all nominees. By pre-disqualifying and prejudging Justice Carpio even before the vetting process started, Senator Escudero has transformed his position from that of an impartial judge of the nominees’ qualifications into that of a demolition team. He has thus forfeited his right as an impartial member of the JBC, having brought an agenda with him that stultifies the very function for which the JBC was primarily created, which is to impartially vet the nominees based on stated standards and to prepare a short list from which President Aquino can choose the next chief justice.

Moreover, the Constitution, under Sec. 8 (l), Article VIII, states that “a representative of the Congress” shall sit as “ex-officio member” of the JBC. The Constitution speaks of “a representative.” Right now, there are two, not one, JBC members representing the legislature: Rep. Niel Tupas and Senator Escudero, in violation of what the Constitution mandates. Either Tupas or Escudero is the legitimate legislature representative, but not both. Considering Escudero’s bias, which has been manifested in his anti-Carpio statements, Tupas should be the lone representative.

If only for delicadeza, Senator Escudero should resign as a JBC member now. Otherwise, it behooves the JBC to take steps immediately to rectify the anomalous composition of its current members. The nation is watching.

—DAN I. AMOSIN ESQUIRE,

licensed California, USA  lawyer, member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, 1979 graduate of the UP College of Law,

[email protected]