Press Release
September 8, 2008

ABOLITION OF JUDICIAL AND BAR COUNCIL
PART OF REFORMS UNDER FEDERAL SYSTEM

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) is batting for the abolition of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to ensure that the appointment of justices and judges is based on merits, instead of the connection of the nominees with powerful politicians and public officials.

The phaseout of the JBC is part of wide-ranging constitutional reforms proposed under Joint Resolution 10, authored by Pimentel and backed by majority of senators, which seeks to amend the 1987 Constitution to replace the existing highly-centralized unitary system with a federal system.

The Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of laws and codes, chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon, is scheduled to start its public hearing on the federalism proposal on Wednesday (September 10), or about five months after Resolution 10 was filed.

Pimentel said the creation of the JBC under the 1987 Constitution had good intentions since it was meant to remove partisan politics from the intruding into the selection and appointment of judicial officials.

"Experience, however, has shown that politicking in the choice and appointment of judicial officials is now done subrosa, particularly through the representative of the Executive Department in the JBC," he observed.

"It is submitted that the better way of selecting and appointing justice and judges of the courts is through a transparent system where the merits and demerits of the judicial nominees are discussed in a public manner."

The JBC is composed of eight members -- the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as ex officio Chairman, the Secretary of Justice, and a representative of the Congress as ex officio members, a representative of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, a professor of law, a retired Member of the Supreme Court, and a representative of the private sector.

Based on Pimentel's proposal, members of the Supreme Court and judges of the lower courts shall be appointed by the President from a list of at least three nominees prepared by the IBP and approved by the Commission on Appointments.

The IBP, the nationwide organization of lawyers, shall conduct appropriate public hearings to determine the qualifications and fitness of the judicial nominees.

"Since the IBP is composed of lawyers, the assumption here is that they would know who among the members of the profession may be suited for the various judicial posts. The IBP thus become the first sieve through which judicial appointees are made to pass," Pimentel explained.

The President becomes the second screener and the Commission on Appointments serves as the third and final sorter of the best nominees to any judicial position.

Pimentel said these proposed reforms are intended to ascertain that only best qualified get appointed or promoted as justices and judges and to eliminate a chronic source of demoralization among the judicial officials.

Ultimately, he said this will redound to the benefit of litigants and society as a whole since there is greater guarantee of fair and just resolution of cases by the courts if they are manned by justices and judges of proven capability and integrity.

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