The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has transmitted to President Rodrigo Duterte a shortlist of nominees aspiring for Supreme Court associate justice post that will be vacated on January 9, 2022 with the compulsory retirement of Associate Justice Rosmari D. Carandang.
The seven-member JBC concurrently chaired by Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo nominated the following aspirants: Michael G. Aguinaldo, chair of the Commission on Audit; Court of Appeals Associate Justice Apolinario D. Bruselas Jr.; Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje Tang; CA Associate Justice Ramon A. Cruz; Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Geraldine Faith A. Econg; Commissioner Antonio T. Kho Jr. of the Commission on Elections; CA Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh; and Deputy Court Administrator and Officer-in-Charge Raul B. Villanueva of the Office of the Court Administrator.
The shortlist of nominees was submitted by the JBC to President Duterte in a letter dated last December 17.
Under the Constitution, the President has 90 days from Jan. 9, 2022 to appoint Carandang’s replacement from the nominees submitted by the JBC – the constitutional office that accepts, screens and nominates appointments in the judiciary.
On May 14, 2022, there will be another vacancy in the 15-member SC with the compulsory retirement of Senior Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas Bernabe.
Besides Gesmundo, the other members of the JBC include Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, SC retired Associate Justices Jose Catral Mendoza and Noel Gimenez Tijam, Sen. Richard Gordon, Toribio Ilao Jr., and Franklin Demonteverde.