BKS: MALACAÑANG WAIVED POWER TO APPOINT 2 SC JUSTICES: RETURN OF THE LIST IS A WAIVER BY PGMA OF HER PREROGATIVE TO FILL 2 VACANCIES

A letter transmitted to the Judicial and Bar Council through Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno is asking the JBC "not to send a new, expanded or amended list of nominees to the vacancies in the Supreme Court due to the retirement of Justices Dante Tinga and Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez."

Signed by Bantay Korte Suprema (BKS) convenors former Senate President Jovito Salonga, independent Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, UP Law School Dean and Professor Marvic Leonen, and Wiloci (Women Lawyers Circle) President Atty. Katrina Legarda, the letter cites that "any transmittal of any new, expanded or amended list would violate the letter and intent of the Constitution," specifically, article VIII Section 9 of the Constitution.

The section states: "The Members of the Supreme Court and judges of lower courts "shall be appointed by the President from a list of at least three nominees prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council for every vacancy. Such appointments need no confirmation."

Pangilinan explains the letter further, saying, "It is not the President's prerogative to say who the JBC should nominate and who it should not. Certainly, the President does not have the right to return the list and ask for an 'expanded list' or for any modification whatsoever. That constitutes an abuse of her power, and it undermines the principle of checks and balances which is inherent in our Constitution."

"If President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo really does not wish to act on the appointments based on this list, then she has effectively forfeited her mandate to appoint the replacements of Justices Tinga and Austria-Martinez. We have no problems with that; those two vacancies can be filled by the next President after June 30, 2010." Pangilinan adds.

The letter ends with a strong appeal to the JBC: "We hope that the JBC would be able to assert their constitutionally mandated function despite strong political pressures."