Joker to defend Congress composition in JBC before SC

 

During Tuesday's Senate session, Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III moved that Arroyo represent the Senate in the oral arguments set by the high tribunal on Thursday.

 

The motion was approved unanimously. "We are confident that he will be able, somehow, [to] change the tide as far as [the] perspective of some members of the SC," Sotto later told reporters.

 

In an interview with reporters before the day's session, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the senators picked Arroyo because he was used to facing the Supreme Court.

 

"Siya ang batikan na abogado na humaharap sa Korte Suprema. Ako trial lawyer lang," he said, adding that Arroyo had already agreed to their proposal.

 

Arroyo, however, refused to comment on the matter.

 

The Senate made the appointment after the high tribunal granted their request to hold oral arguments before deciding the issue with finality.

 

"Palagay ko naintindihan naman nila ang importansya nung issue at alam nila na hindi naman kami nagmamaktol dahil piniprisenta lang namin ang opposite side ng argument in order that we can arrive at a better arrangement," Enrile said.

 

"Not that we want to defy the Supreme Court, but I think it's our duty to point out our position and if it's acceptable to them, nagpapasalamat kami, kung hindi naman eh di hindi," he added.

 

Earlier, former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez called the Supreme Court’s attention to the first paragraph of Section 8 of Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, which says Congress is entitled to only “a member” in the JBC.

 

The high tribunal then ruled that Congress should have only one representative in the JBC. Senator Francis Escudero and Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. previously sat in the JBC as chairpersons of their respective houses’ justice committees.

 

The Senate, however, said that neither lawmaker can represent the other in the JBC. 

 

"Representation to the JBC by Congress must be one from the House with one vote and one from the Senate with one vote," it said in a resolution adopted on Monday.

 

The JBC is the body created under the 1987 Constitution to come up with at least three nominees each for every vacant judicial position in all courts. The President can only appoint judges and justices from the short list of nominees submitted by the JBC. — RSJ, GMA News