The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has opened the application or recommendation to the post of Supreme Court (SC) associate justice to be vacated on June 4 with the compulsory retirement of Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez.

In an announcement, the JBC said applicants must visit its official website – www.jbc.judiciay.gov.ph – for complete details and guidelines on application requirements.

The deadline for online applications is 4:30 p.m. on March 28.

“The qualifications of applicants shall be reckoned as of the date of nomination. For the qualification requirements and evaluative criteria, applicants are enjoined to refer to the 2020 Revised JBC rules, as amended, in the JBC website,” the council said. 

The JBC is a constitutional office that accepts, screens, nominates appointments in the judiciary, the legal education board, and in the office of the Ombudsman, deputy Ombudsman, and special prosecutor.

It is chaired in an ex-officio capacity by Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo.