Press Release
July 30, 2009

LOREN ASSAILS GLORIA FOR JBC DIRECTIVE

Sen. Loren Legarda yesterday accused President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of trying to undermine the independence of the judiciary.

In a statement, Loren said "this could be the only possible motive why she rejected the list of six nominees to the Supreme Court submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council to fill two vacancies in the highest court."

She declared that if the President "succeeds in packing the highest court of the land with men or women subservient to her will, the independence of the judiciary would be totally undermined."

"With sensitive and crucial issues expected to be taken to the Supreme Court in the face of the approaching 2010 elections that could affect the future of our country, this move of the President is indeed alarming and ominous," she asserted.

Among these issues is House of Representatives Resolution 1109 calling for a constituent assembly to amend the Constitution without the participation of the Senate as a separate body. Loren pointed out that more than 70 percent of the people oppose the proposal as shown by poll surveys.

She also stated that electoral protests arising from the conduct of the 2010 elections could be decided by a Supreme Court the majority of whose members could be "dictated to or controlled" by the president.

"Something is being cooked in Malacañang in preparation for the 2010 elections and it smells rotten," said Loren.

She also asserted that the move of the President could even be considered a violation of the Constitution.

The Constitution states that "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 nominee" (Sec. 9. Article VIII).

"The JBC was precisely set up by the Constitution to ensure the independence of the judiciary," Loren stated. "But if the President succeeds in manipulating the JBC to recommend men and women subservient to her will to the Supreme Court, she will have succeeded in undermining the independence of the judiciary."

Loren dismissed as "unacceptable and shallow" the claim of Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita that the President only wanted a "wider list".

According to Loren, the Constitution gave the JBC the authority to submit at least three nominees to any vacancy in the Supreme Court or lower courts, or to expand that list according to its discretion.

"But the Constitution did not give any authority to the President to demand that the JBC submit more than three nominees for each vacancy. The President is bound to make her appointments from at least three nominees submitted by the JBC," Loren pointed out.

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