Despite strong opposition from various sectors, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was given the green light Tuesday by the Supreme Court (SC) to appoint the successor of Chief Justice Reynato Puno. Affirming its March 17 ruling, the SC said Arroyo can go ahead and appoint the next Chief Justice, underscoring that the judiciary is not covered by the ban on “midnight appointments” or government designations made within an election period. The court said the appeal to reverse its earlier ruling on the matter is now considered moot. “With exactly the same voting (9-3-1), the motions for reconsideration are denied with finality,” SC spokesman and court administrator Midas Marquez said in a statement. Puno, Justices Antonio Carpio and Renato Corona inhibited themselves from voting. The SC reaffirmed its ruling amid mounting concerns that Arroyo's selection of a new Chief Justice was part of her plan to unilaterally extend her term beyond 2010 following a feared declaration of failure of elections on May 10. With its final ruling, the SC thus mandated the Judicial and Bar and Council (JBC) to submit a list of nominees to Arroyo before May 17, the day of Puno's retirement. The JBC earlier expressed its disagreement with the SC's March 17 ruling through a comment submitted last April 12. In its comment, the JBC told the SC that it should have dismissed the petitions that would allow Arroyo, whose term ends on June 30, to appoint Puno's successor after the May 10 elections. The body said the petitions seeking to allow Arroyo to appoint the chief justice were “patently premature” since it had not yet decided whether to submit to the president a short list of nominees for Puno's successor. The JBC is headed by Puno. The other members include Justice Secretary Alberto Agra, Senator Francis Escudero and Quezon City Representatives Matias Defensor, the chairmen of the Senate and House committees on justice, respectively. Of the eight JBC members, only Agra did not join the comment. Instead, he filed a separate comment asking the Supreme Court to state that Arroyo could make appointments not only in the high court but in the entire judiciary. Agra is currently under fire for issuing an order clearing two members of the dreaded Ampatuan clan from the November 23 massacre in Maguindanao which cost the lives of 57 people. On Monday, the JBC grilled four candidates for chief justice – Renato Corona, Arturo Brion, Teresita Leonardo-De Castro; and Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval. Currently, all Supreme Court magistrates are Arroyo appointees except for Puno, who was appointed by former President Fidel Ramos. Malacanang promptly urged the public and government critics to respect the SC verdict. Deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar expressed hope that “the rest of the process of selecting the next chief justice – so essential for institutional stability especially in an election year – can now proceed without further entanglements in the sordid agendas of campaign politics.”
