MikeLigalig.com

By Perfecto T. Raymundo Jr.

The Supreme Court (SC) en banc ordered on Tuesday the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to answer the petition questioning the voting powers of the congressional members in the JBC.

After an en banc deliberation, the SC directed the JBC to file its comment until Monday (July 9) after former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez questioned the composition of the JBC, in particular the two representatives from Congress, namely: Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., chairman of the House Justice Committee; and Sen. Francis Escudero, head of the Senate Committee on Justice.

Aside from the JBC, both Escudero and Tupas were also asked by the SC to file their respective explanations whether or not each of them will have one full vote or only half vote each.

Likewise, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) was also ordered to file its comment.

All of the six justices of the SC, who are nominees for the Chief Justice position, recused themselves in the deliberation on the issue questioning the composition of the JBC.

The six SC justices who accepted the nomination for Chief Justice were Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leornardo-De Castro, Arturo Brion, Roberto Abad and Maria Lourdes Aranal-Sereno.

It can be recalled that Chavez asked the SC to restrain the JBC from further functioning.

In his petition, Chavez said that the composition of the JBC should not be eight but only seven.

He asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the JBC from taking further actions on he selection of the new chief magistrate to replace impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The JBC is an independent constitutional body mandated to screen nominees to the positions in the SC and judges of the lower courts, as well as the position of Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsmen.

Chavez cited a phrase in Section 8, Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution which states "a representative of the Congress."

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