A former Cabinet member, a military lawyer, and a partner in a powerful law firm joined four others in the race for seats in the Supreme Court (SC) that will be vacated when Justices Alicia Austria-Martinez and Dante Tinga hang their robes on April 30 and May 11, respectively.

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) announced on Thursday the public interview of the seven new contenders.

Austria-Martinez will reach the retirement age of 70 on December 19, 2010, but she opted to leave the High Court early for health reasons.

Former UP College of Law professor Raphael Lotilla, who was Arroyo's energy secretary from 2005 to 2007, is one of the seven new contenders for the SC.

Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, one of the first 18 SC hopefuls, has a subordinate as competitor--Assistant Solicitor General Amparo Tang. Tang is known as the legal counsel of military officials in cases involving extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances

One of the seven new aspirants previously tried for the High Court. Jesus Manalastas, senior partner in Ponce Enrile Reyes & Manalastas Law Offices, first applied for the SC in 2006 when the appointment of then Justice Artemio Panganiban as chief justice created an opening in the High Court. Then Solicitor General Antonio Nachura got the post.

From court administrator

Another contender for the SC had a shot at becoming the court administrator of the High Tribunal also in 2006. Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) Justice Lovell Bautista was one of the five nominees for court administrator, a post left by Presbiterio Velasco when he was appointed to the SC. Christopher Lock, a retired regional trial court judge, replaced Velasco as court administrator.

(Correction: We earlier reported that retired regional trial court judge Zenaida Elepaño replaced Presbiterio Velasco as court administrator. It was Lock who replaced Velasco, while Elepaño succeeded Lock as court administrator. Our apologies. We thank Perci Lock for pointing this out to us.)

The dean of the University of Perpetual law school, Ed Vincent Albano, would return to the judiciary if appointed. Before joining the academe, Albano served as the presiding trial court judge of the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court.

Newly-appointed Court of Appeals (CA) Justice Ruben Ayson would leave the appellate court early if chosen for the SC post. Ayson has been in the CA for less than a year, having been appointed on May 5, 2008.

Sandiganbayan 

Sandiganbayan Justice Jose Hernandez is attempting to be the third jurist from the anti-graft court to join the SC. The 15-member body already has former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justices Teresita De Castro and Diosdado Peralta.

Hernandez’s colleague in the fourth division, Justice Gregory Ong, almost made it to the SC in 2007, but his appointment was recalled due to his citizenship. Ong’s birth certificate showed that he is Chinese. Contenders to any judicial post must be natural-born Filipino citizens. 

Hernandez is one of the three justices handling the graft case against former Justice Secretary Hernando 'Nani' Perez. Perez allegedly extorted $2 million from former Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez in 2001.
 
The embattled Perez moved for Hernandez’s inhibition in September last year because of the jurist’s alleged bias towards him. Perez's defense counsel had said Hernandez called them “arrogant.” Perez's motion was struck down in December. 

"Was the perceived hostility based on Justice Hernandez’s being repetitive about the need for temporary restraining order; or was it because the ruling was unfavorable to the accused? Rulings and orders of a court are not considered as hostile just because they are unfavorable to a party; more so, they cannot be considered as bias or partial on that ground alone,” the Sandiganbayan fourth division pointed out.

Early aspirants

Other aspirants for the SC are CTA Presiding Justice Ernesto Acosta; CA Justices Portia Hormachuelos, Martin Villarama, Andres Reyes, Remedios Salazar-Fernando, Juan Enriquez, Lucas Bersamin, Japar Dimaampao, Amelita Tolentino, and Hakim Abdulwahid.

Sandiganbayan Justices Edilberto Sandoval and Francisco Villaruz, Ateneo law dean Cesar Villanueva, University of Santo Tomas College of law Dean Roberto Abad, former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Jose Buñag, real estate businessman Rodolfo Robles, and human rights lawyer Pablito Sanidad are also in the running.

They previously vied for the SC seats vacated by Justices Ruben Reyes and Adolfo Azcuna, who retired on January 3, 2008 and February 16, 2009, respectively.

Peralta was chosen to replace Reyes.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has yet to pick the jurist who will fill up the vacancy left by Azcuna.

The buzz is the post would go to Bersamin, a close friend of Peralta and of  Arroyo’s relatives and special assistants, Erlinda and Carlos de Leon.