MANILA, Philippines - Four more nominees for the post to be vacated by Chief Justice Reynato Puno upon his retirement on May 17 emerged last Thursday, the last day for filing of nominations and applications at the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).
The JBC released yesterday the names of the new nominees, including Supreme Court Associate Justices Arturo Brion and Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, who as presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan convicted deposed President Joseph Estrada of plunder.
The other nominees are Sandiganbayan acting Presiding Justice Edilberto Sandoval and Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Victor Fernandez.
Court of Appeals Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao and Philippine Constitution Association president Manuel Lazaro nominated Brion, who was described as “a distinguished magistrate whose competence, integrity, probity and independence are beyond question.”
Brion topped the 1974 Bar examination. From 2003 to 2006, he served as a CA associate justice. He earned his Bachelor of Laws cum laude from the Ateneo Law School in 1974 where he was class valedictorian and recipient of the Golden Leaf Award, Gold Medal for Academic Excellence and First Honors Gold Medal.
Prior to his appointment to the SC on March 17, 2008, Brion was secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) for two years. He also served as undersecretary at DOLE and the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario nominated De Castro whom she described as “a unifying leader and effective administrator.”
“Should she be given the opportunity to serve as chief justice, I am confident that Justice De Castro will continue to uphold the lofty ideal of an independent, ethical and highly professional judiciary, attuned to the needs of an evolving, dynamic society,” Nazario said.
Both De Castro and Brion accepted the nominations.
Retired Justice Manuel Lazaro nominated Justice Sandoval while Fernandez applied for the post.
The nominations of Brion, De Castro, Sandoval and Fernandez brought to nine the number of candidates for the chief justice post to be deliberated upon by the JBC.
The four who were earlier nominated for the post are Associate Justice Renato Corona, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales and Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio. Former judge Florentino Floro Jr., on the other hand, applied for the post.
SC administrator and spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the JBC would evaluate the qualifications of the nominees. The council would publish the list of nominees and applicants and then set up public interviews before proceeding with their deliberations.
Marquez reiterated that the JBC has not yet decided whether or not it would submit the shortlist to President Arroyo.
Carpio, Morales and Villa-Ignacio earlier accepted their nominations but on the condition that the appointment would be made by the next president. Fernandez also put the same condition in his application.
They cited Article VII, Section 15 of the Constitution, the provision being cited by those opposed to a proposal to allow President Arroyo to appoint the successor of Chief Justice Puno.
This prohibitive rule in the Charter provides that: “Two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his term, a President or Acting President shall not make appointments, except temporary appointments to executive positions when continued vacancies therein will prejudice public service or endanger public safety.”
Justices Corona, Brion and De Castro, on the other hand, accepted their nominations without any condition.
Nominee accused of impropriety
The race for the next Chief Justice is generating more heat after a losing litigant accused one of the frontrunners of impropriety.
In a letter to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) dated Jan. 31, businessman and lawyer Fernando Campos insinuated that Senior Justice Renato Corona Jr. accepted a bribe in the form of free airline tickets to Las Vegas to watch Manny Pacquiao’s fight there in May last year.
Reportedly the favored bet of Malacañang, Corona is seeking to replace Puno on May 17. Among three most senior justices who are automatically considered for the post, only Corona has accepted the nomination without condition.
The appointment of the next Chief Justice has triggered a legal controversy on whether an outgoing President can still make an appointment despite the ban, which starts 60 days before a presidential election and lasts until the end of a President’s term. Puno’s retirement falls within the period of the appointment ban.
Campos, a losing litigant, asked the JBC to look into the ruling that Corona reportedly penned dismissing the certiorari case Campos filed against the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and PhilWeb Corp. over the operation of online cockfight betting.
“There is something more than meets the eye in this case, which the JBC should review. Why did Justice Corona, after dismissing it on April 20, 2009, leave hurriedly for Las Vegas to watch the Pacquiao-Hatton fight on May 3, 2009? And why, after being informed by the Chief Justice that there is a complaint for undue haste against him, Justice Corona did not inhibit himself from dismissing it with finality on July 8, 2009,” Campos said in his letter.
Online cockfighting
Campos chairs Inter-Petal Recreational Corp. (IPRC), a firm composed of various businessmen from Cavite that started in 1992 to receive and tabulate cockfighting bets outside the arena in Dasmariñas City.
IPRC’s problems started when it was seeking to expand its reach to cockfighting aficionados outside Cavite, largely targeting Filipinos based overseas, by tapping the Internet to launch Tele-Sabong. This is a system where the actual cockfighting in an arena in Cavite was broadcast “live” and people can place their bets at the TV-equipped frontons, betting stations outside the arena, and through the Internet.
Campos said IPRC was securing tax and franchise papers from Cavite’s local government units when Pagcor stepped in, arguing that it has jurisdiction over the grant of franchise to on-line gaming firms in the country. The wrangling led to the withdrawal of IPRC’s Tele-Sabong investors, resulting in losses of millions of pesos worth of investments, which took more than a decade to develop.
By 2004, Campos learned that Pagcor entered into a deal with PhilWeb, a gaming firm chaired by former Marcos crony Roberto Ongpin. He claimed that Pagcor unfairly accommodated PhilWeb to monopolize online cockfight betting.
PhilWeb, a listed firm, was originally a mining firm that Ongpin reincarnated into an Internet company in 2000. It evolved into an online gaming company in 2002 after it bagged an agreement with Pagcor to be its consultant for the technical and marketing aspects of online sports betting.
Campos considered this agreement as equivalent to granting PhilWeb a franchise - one that eluded IPRC in 1998 when it also sought a license from Pagcor, which replied that it had no jurisdiction on Tele-Sabong.
As Pagcor and PhilWeb were preparing to launch the online cockfight betting game nationwide under the trademark “TVSabong,” IPRC filed a case against the two firms at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
IPRC said PhilWeb was trying to defraud its stockholders that it could generate around P60 billion in annual revenues from TVSabong even without a congressional franchise. The case also sought an investigation of the Pagcor-PhilWeb transaction.
PhilWeb, in its replies to SEC, said the securities regulator has no jurisdiction over the issues since the authority to operate online cockfighting bets belongs exclusively to Pagcor, which only contracted PhilWeb for specific services. The Ongpin-led firm also stressed that SEC cannot entertain complains about Pagcor since the two are co-equals. The SEC agreed with PhilWeb.
This prompted Campos to file a certiorari on March 18, 2009 before the Supreme Court, and this was raffled to the First Division. Members of the First Division are Chief Justice Reynato Puno, Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Lucas Bersamin and Corona.
Record-breaking ruling
Campos said that despite the “voluminous records and annexes,” the First Division dismissed his petition on April 20, 2009 in a record-breaking 20 days, excluding the Holy Week. The decision, however, was only promulgated on May 28, 2009.
What’s “fishy,” Campos said, was the fact that PhilWeb only filed its opposition to the certiorari petition on April 22, or two days after the First Division had supposedly already decided on the case. Also further raising suspicion was the filing of the opposition even if the Supreme Court had not yet issued any order to comment.
Campos said he also learned from his sources that a PhilWeb lawyer met Corona in Baguio during the annual retreat of the justices there.
Campos said he is convinced that “there was undue haste” in the SC ruling on the certiorari since it did not even consider the position of the other party.
Letter to Puno
Adding impropriety to Corona’s action, Campos said, was his failure to inhibit himself from the case despite doubts raised on his impartiality.
Campos wrote a letter asking the SC to take a second look at the certiorari case, and informed it that a member of the tribunal went to Las Vegas a few weeks after it was decided.
Puno acted favorably on Campos’ request by including it in the First Division’s agenda.
Yet, despite this, Corona failed to inhibit himself, Campos said.
On Sept. 14, with Corona as the acting chairman of the First Division, the petition for certiorari was dismissed with finality.
By Edu Punay
(The Philippine Star)
Follow us on: