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JBC thumbs down open voting

By Aries Rufo, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 11/11/2008 4:45 PM

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Efforts to make the screening process in the Judicial and Bar Council more transparent and accountable have hit a brick wall.

This after the body, which vets nominees to the judiciary, the Sandiganbayan and the Ombudsman, rejected a proposal for an open voting.

The proposal for an open voting, which would allow one to identify those who voted for a particular nominee, was sought by Integrated Bar of the Philippines representative to the JBC J Conrado Castro as a measure of transparency.

The confidential voting being practiced in the JBC right now even outdoes what is being observed in the High Court, where votes of justices are least put on record.

Instead of open voting, JBC member and Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor Jr. said that what was agreed on is to disclose how many votes a candidate receives from the JBC.

The JBC is composed of the Chief Justice as ex-officio head with representatives from the IBP, the academe, retired member of the SC and from the private sector as regular members. Other ex-officio members are the Secretary of Justice and two members from Congress.

Defensor said JBC members will be provided with a list of the candidates and each member “will check” the name of the preferred nominee. A member can vote for more than one nominee, he added.

The Constitution states that the JBC should submit at least three names to a vacancy for the President’s consideration. Recent lists submitted carry more than three names.

Once the checklist is done, the Chief Justice will tally the votes. Nominees with the highest votes will be the ones short-listed, Defensor said.

Call for transparency

In proposing the open voting, Castro noted there is public pressure for the JBC to make its process more transparent, in the wake of scandals hitting the judiciary. The bribery scandal in the Court of Appeals has cost the integrity of the courts, he noted.

“Hence, the current clamor for upholding the sanctity of our legal processes and the mounting sentiment towards cleansing the judiciary of unqualified dispensers of justice on a professional as well as personal level. This public interest coupled with my long-standing position in support of transparency behooves me to bring to fore this proposal,” Castro said in a letter to the JBC.

“The declaration of nominees and/or individual nominations effectively impels the Council Members to exercise utmost prudence and care in their selection and nomination responsibilities,” he added.

But certain JBC members expressed reservations about the proposal, noting it could put further pressure on them.

Civil society groups, like the Supreme Court Appointment Watch consortium, have been calling on the JBC to open its process to the public, given the sensitivity and the enormous responsibility it enjoys and wields.

as of 11/11/2008 8:28 PM