MANILA - House Speaker Prospero Nograles is eyeing a seat in the Supreme Court (SC), two sources privy to his plans told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.  

According to one of the sources, Nograles has talked to at least one member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), the body that vets applicants to the Supreme Court, lower courts, and the Ombudsman.  

A "Justice Prospero Nograles"  will surely add to the long-running concern and controversy over how the Supreme Court is being filled with appointees of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Nograles, a bar topnotcher, told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak that he is open to the idea of becoming a member of the High Tribunal, but “that is not my option to date.”

“Maybe--and only maybe--I will start to consider it next year when my watch [as Speaker] expires. But it’s not in my radar today,” he said.

He said he intends to finish his term as congressman, and is not willing to give up his post as speaker of the House of Representatives, the fourth in the line of succession. 

“I have not talked to anyone about it. Your source must be wrong. But I’m flattered your source thinks I can go there,” he said.

Three vacancies

President Arroyo will be replacing three new members to the Supreme Court in the coming months. Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, and Minita Chico-Nazario will retire on October 5, November 6, and December 5, respectively.  

Nograles is on his third and last term in the House of Representatives. Assuming he makes it to the Supreme Court, Nograles will be giving up between six to nine months of his remaining term in exchange for eight years in the high tribunal.

Nograles will turn 62 in October. The retirement age for justices is 70.
 
After all three retiring justices are replaced, the 15-member tribunal, except for Chief Justice Puno, would all be appointees of President Arroyo.

Former President Fidel Ramos appointed Chief Justice Reynato Puno to the tribunal, although it was President Arroyo who made him chief justice.  

Puno will be retiring in May 2010. The next vacancies will be in June 2011, when Justices Antonio Nachura and  Conchita Carpio Morales both retire.

Loyalty to Arroyo

Nograles’ loyalty to the administration will expectedly be an issue against him, said lawyer and Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares.

“The Supreme Court’s credibility as an institution should be maintained. He’s not only a politician, but a politician loyal to the president. He is the prime mover of President Arroyo’s wishes,” he told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak, when asked to comment on the report. 

Another Supreme Court observer is concerned that Nograles’ performance in the bar exams is his only claim to fame in the legal profession. He earned his law degree, with honors, from the Ateneo de Manila law school in 1971. He reportedly placed second in the bar exams with an average of 90.95%.

“He has no attachment to the field of law, whether as an academician or a practitioner. He has been in politics most of his life,” the court observer said.

Charter change

Colmenares is also concerned that Nograles, if he become a Supreme Court justice, will get entangled in controversial issues involving President Arroyo.   

He said Nograles, for instance, was behind the dismissal of the impeachment case against President Arroyo in 2008.

The cases cited in the impeachment complaint—the botched US$329 million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with Chinese telecommunications firm, ZTE Corp., and the alleged bribery of local government officials, among others—will end up in the judiciary after President Arroyo steps down.

“These cases will go to the Supreme Court,” Colmenares said.

Another major controversial issue that may eventually reach the Supreme Court is the constitutionality of joint voting by both houses of Congress as the proper mode to convene a Constituent assembly (Con-ass). Although the protests against convening a Constituent assembly have died down, the House Resolution (HR 1109) on Con-ass has not been officially dismissed.

Former Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) President Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte was supposed to have been the "brains" behind the Con-ass resolution, but it was Nograles who filed it.

Nograles was originally in favor of a Constitutional convention, but eventually bowed to pressure and allowed the passage of HR1109.

The House committee on constitutional amendments is currently finalizing the resolution consolidating the calls for a Constitutional convention.

Wooing the Court?

As a legislator, Nograles has been supportive of the judiciary.

He has a pending measure, House Bill 882, which seeks to grant additional retirement benefits to members of the judiciary. If passed into law, it will benefit over 2,000 justices and judges in the Philippines.

Under the bill, justices and judges who have served at least 15 years “shall receive during the residue of his natural life, … the salary plus the highest monthly aggregate of transportation, living and representation allowances which he was receiving at the time of his retirement.”  

This is on top of a non-wage benefit in the form of an educational scholarship to one legitimate child.
 
The bill was approved by the House committee on justice in December 2008, and the House committee on appropriations approved funds for it in July 2009.

"We must provide the much needed financial assistance to the retired judges to support them in their twilight years. They have dedicated most of their lives in the service of the people and country," Nograles said in a statement in March 2008, when the bill was deliberated in the committee.  

"This initiative is one of the litany of priority reforms we are committed to push during the 14th Congress. I am confident this initiative enjoys the support of my colleagues," he added.