Questions swirl over the nomination of two reported frontrunners-- real estate businessman Rodolfo Robles and Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera-- to the Supreme Court post to be vacated by Justice Ruben Reyes on January 2, 2009. They are said to be the leading contenders in a list of 14 candidates recently published by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) in newspapers and on its Web site.

Seven justices will retire from the Supreme Court in 2009, giving President Arroyo a full sweep of the Court when she steps down in 2010. The first of these vacancies takes place early next year.

Robles's family is said to have personal ties with President Arroyo while Devanadera is an ally of the Arroyos and enjoys access to the First Couple. Robles's father was a friend of the late Diosdado Macapgal, the president's father.

But Robles's age hounds him. A lawyer-businessman, he is 65 years and 4 months old, violating the JBC rule that nominees from outside the judiciary should complete a five-year term in the Supreme Court. They are required to retire when they reach 70.

Robles declined to answer our questions on this issue.

However, Robles’s inclusion in the publication of nominees is “conditional,” a source privy to the JBC proceedings, told Abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak, until the JBC resolves issues concerning his age.  

Section 8.2 of the JBC rules stipulates that “the Council shall not consider for nomination non-career and career applicants who may no longer be able to serve the court for at least five years or for at least one and one-half years, respectively, before reaching the compulsory age of retirement,” which is 70.

Pending case

For her part, Devanadera’s pending case in the Office of the Ombudsman remains a ticklish issue. In 2007, the same case reportedly cost her the SC appointment. 

However, Devanadera said that it is the JBC which is answerable for her inclusion in the list of nominees, not her. “That is not my decision. It is the decision of the JBC,” she told Abs-cbnnews.com-Newsbreak. 

Abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak gathered that the case has moved at a snail’s pace in the Office of the Ombudsman and is stuck at the fact-finding stage.

Devanadera also made it as a nominee last year amid her pending case.

Rule 4 Sec. 5 of the JBC rules specifies that those with pending criminal or regular administrative cases are “disqualified from being nominated for appointment to any judicial post or as Ombudsman or Deputy Ombudsman.”

On October 11, 2006, Ilocos Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson charged Devanadera along with 42 other authorities from the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), Bulk Handlers Inc. (BHI) and Poro Poro Point Industrial Corp. (PPIC) with plunder.

BCDA, BHI and PPIC allegedly fattened their pockets from their "dubious" supervision and operation of the Poro Point Special Economic and Freeport Zone in San Fernando, La Union.

Singson cited Devanadera in his complaint for her failure to nullify the Poro Point development contract between BHI and BCDA.

Test of JBC leadership

The JBC has the sole authority to decide if Robles and Devanadera could still vie for a position in the Supreme Court. But insiders have questioned how the two even made it to list of the nominees considering the serious questions surrounding them. 

A source privy to JBC goings-on said that the age issue of Robles came up at the council’s meeting last November 3. However, the body failed to resolve the matter following the absence of two of its members.

JBC members include Chief Justice Reynato Puno as ex-oficio member, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales, Sen. Francisco Pangilinan, Dean Amadeo Dimayuga, J. Conrado Castro of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Rep. Matias Defensor Jr., retired Supreme Court Justice Regino Hermosisima Jr., and retired Court of Appeals Justice Aurora S. Lagman.

Last year, the JBC came under fire after it included Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong in the shortlist of nominees. Ong would be later disqualified after it was found out that he is not a natural-born Filipino citizen. 

Supreme Court Appointments Watch (SCAW), a consortium of civil society organizations, recently urged the JBC to be more transparent in its work. 
 
“JBC should inform the public how they voted and who made it to their shortlist,” Marlon Manuel, coordinator of SCAW member Alternative Law Groups said.

Under investigation

A third nominee, Court of Appeals Justice Juan Enriquez, faces the risk of having his nomination challenged once complaints against him turn into full-fledged administrative cases.

According to Rule 4 Sec. 6 of JBC rules, judges who face administrative complaints under informal preliminary investigation (IPI) may also be disqualified if the JBC deems that the charges are “serious or grave as to affect the fitness of the applicant for nomination.”

Two complaints, both still in the IPI stage, have been lodged against Enriquez.

One was filed by Steel Corp. of the Philippines (SCP) last August through its vice president and legal counsel Nonnatus Chua. SCP questioned Enriquez’s decision, promulgated on July 3, where he allegedly terminated the rehabilitation proceedings of SCP in haste.

Chua accused Enriquez of gross ignorance of the law and gross disregard of the Internal Rules of the Court Appeals. He said that the appellate court justice should have consolidated his case with an appeal earlier filed by the company. The said petition is handled by CA Justice Vicente Veloso of the 11th Division. 

However, Enriquez noted that SCP only pushed for the consolidation of the cases after he handed down the decision.

In the executive summary of the cases which Abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak obtained, Enriquez argued that Rule No. 7 of the Revised Rules of the Court of Appeals says that the consolidation of cases is not mandatory.

CA Presiding Justice Conrado Vasquez formed a committee to probe SCP’s complaint against Enriquez.

Arroyo’s land 

An earlier complaint was filed against Enriquez on December 27, 2007. Genaro Santiago charged the magistrate of gross ignorance of law and gross incompetence after the latter struck down his petition for the reconstitution of a damaged or lost certificate of title on December 3, 2007.

The reconstitution of the Original Certificate of Title no. 56 (OCT No. 56) would have accorded Santiago ownership of a about 8 million square meters of land in Tatalon, Quezon City. The said estate is also considered as the ancestral land of the president’s husband, Juan Miguel “Mike” Arroyo.

Santiago alleged that Enriquez quashed his right to the land which he inherited as heir to the Estate of Pantaleona Santiago and Blas Fajardo. .

However, Enriquez said that the disputed land is part of the Sta. Mesa estate, as what the Supreme Court also ruled in the Benin vs. Tuason case. In the said case, the High Court ruled that the Tuasons, maternal side of Mike Arroyo, have rightful claim over the land and declared as valid their OCT No. 735.

Enriquez also pointed out that the Registry of Deeds of the Province of Rizal unveiled no records which confirm that OCT No. 56 was issued to Santiago and Fajardo.  
  
He alleged that the complaints filed against him were “ill-motivated and filed purely to harass” him. 

For gov’t authorities 

The JBC rules also require candidates from the government to submit a performance rating as a measure of their competence. Rule 2 Sec. 4 states that applicants “in government service shall submit his performance ratings, which shall include a verified statement as to such performance for the past three years.”

While none of the nominees is a government official, the rule could have been applicable to Jose Buñag if he were still a Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner.

Buñag was appointed to the BIR in 2005, but resigned in 2007 after failing to meet tax collection targets.