By Rey Panaligan
The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) nominated on Monday eight aspirants to the post that would be vacated in the Supreme Court (SC) by Justice Presbitero J. Velasco Jr. who is retiring on August 8.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Nominated were Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justices Ramon Garcia, Amy Lazaro Javier and Jose Reyes with seven votes each; CA Associate Justices Apolinario Bruselas, Rosmari Carandang, and Ramon Hernando, and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez with six votes each; and Ateneo de Manila Law Dean Cesar Villanueva with five votes.
The list with eight nominees will be submitted by the JBC to President Duterte who is expected to pick his appointee within 90 days from the date of Velasco’s retirement.
Earlier, the SC had recommended to the JBC the nomination of Carandang, Marquez, Reyes, and Garcia to the post.
The JBC is headed by SC Senior Justice Antonio T. Carpio as acting Chief Justice in an ex-officio capacity. The other ex-officio members are Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and (alternately) Sen. Richard Gordon and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali. The regular members are retired SC Justice Jose Catral Mendoza, retired judge Toribio Ilao, and lawyers Jose Mejia and Milagros Fernan Cayosa.