The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has impliedly recognized the authority and obligation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to appoint the replacement of Chief Justice Reynato Puno when he retires on May 17, 2010.
Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the JBC has done so by opening the nomination process to prepare a shortlist of possible replacements.
“The JBC is chaired by no less than the chief justice of the Supreme Court,†Bello pointed out in an interview on the government–owned radio station DZRB. “So when it submits to the President the list of nominees, that is an implied recognition of the authority and power of the President to make the appointment.â€
Supreme Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez had disclosed that JBC, in an en banc meeting on Jan. 18, unanimously voted to open the nomination for the still-to-be vacated position of chief justice.
Under the Constitution, Bello stressed, the President has the power and obligation to appoint the chief justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, and the Sandiganbayan. (PNA)
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