Miriam's SC bid blocked; senator slams Panganiban

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) on Monday shut the door on Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s second bid to head the Supreme Court (SC) and the feisty senator lashed out in a tirade against Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said in an interview that the eight-man JBC panel, of which he is part of, voted to exclude Santiago and least senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio from consideration, trimming down the candidates from six to four. The JBC agreed in a meeting on Monday that only candidates who got five or more votes would be nominated. A very upset Santiago told reporters at the Senate that Panganiban, who is set to retire on December 7, orchestrated her exclusion. "He (Panganiban) was the twisted brain behind this," Santiago said. "I was hoping to at least get nominated but even that was denied me," the senator added in Filipino. Santiago said that being an ally of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo hurt her bid owing to Panganiban’s closeness to former Senator Jovito Salonga, who has become a critic of the Chief Executive. The senator said that she will push that the Supreme Court budget be reduced to its 2005 level, and that the JBC budget be cut to a measly P100. Gonzalez said the JBC will submit to Mrs Arroyo – who will appoint the next Chief Justice – the names of Associate Justices Reynato Puno, Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago and Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez. The justice secretary said he had pushed that all six candidates be submitted to Mrs Arroyo for consideration. "But that was the result of the voting. I moved that all six be forwarded to Malacañang. But I was outvoted. So we proceeded to the secret voting," Gonzalez said. Santiago told reporters that she was informed she got only one vote from the JBC. Gonzalez noted during the JBC voting, Puno and Quisumbing both got seven votes, while Santiago and Gutierrez both got five votes. He said the JBC backed the suggestion of was retired Justice Regino Hermosisima to include only those nominees in the list to be submitted to the President who will get at least five votes during the secret voting. "The rule was only those who received not less than five votes. Justice Hermosisima who was the one who moved for that and the members agreed," Gonzalez said. The justice secretary said the proposal of Senator Francis Pangilinan to disqualify all the five candidates who failed to appear before the JBC’s public interview last November 29 was also defeated during Monday’s meeting of the JBC. Sen. Santiago was also endorsed last year by the Young Lawyers Association of the Philippines (YLAP) to be Chief Justice, by citing that their endorsement was filed late the JBC junked Sen. Santiaog’s bid. It can be recalled that outgoing Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, ex-officio chairman of the JBC, was compelled to adjourn the JBC public interview last Nov. 29 after Puno, Quisumbing, Ynares-Santiago, Gutierrez and Carpio snubbed the public interview. Panganiban explained that the five justices invoked the two-year resolution of the High Cort that all incumbent justices applying as Chief Justice should not be subjected to public interview. Quisumbing, quoting a newspaper columnist, said that they are apprehensive to appear before the JBC for the public interview because it is a mere circus. He said they will just provide copies of their past decisions to the JBC to make it as basis in evaluating them, adding that he believed in the long tradition of seniority in the Supreme Court as basis for the appointment of Chief Justice. Only Santiago showed up for the public interview but asked that it be deferred too so as not to put her "colleagues and competitors at an unfair disadvantage". "I did not voluntarily refuse to be interviewed. I was not the one who ask that no interview be conducted becuse the other justices were not showing up. It was the idea of the Chief Justice who sent the justice secretry to me in the holding room to deliver that message," the senator said. -With a report from Joan Dairo, GMANews.TV