Pending cases hovered over the first batch of nominees to the Supreme Court interviewed Wednesday by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

The JBC rules stipulate that nominees facing administrative and criminal charges could face disqualification.

Reported SC frontrunner Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera has been charged with a fresh disbarment case, which increased the number of pending cases filed against her to three.

Lawyer Fidela Vargas sought the disbarment of Devanadera in a complaint she filed at the Supreme Court on October 15, 2008 after the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) allegedly failed to add parties in the motion for intervention it filed in representation of the Department of Education (Deped).

Deped has moved for the intervention because its school buildings stood on a portion of land in Sorsogon which is being claimed by Vargas’s client.

“She accused me of being ineffective,” Devanadera told Abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak.

Devanadera was initially charged with plunder in 2006 by Ilocos Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson for her reported failure to nullify the Poro Point Seaport development contract between the Bases Conversion Development Act and Bulk Handlers Inc.

On the other hand, the government lawyer said that the disbarment case filed against her by labor leader Henaro Bautista has been referred to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines,which is yet to issue a resolution.

Bautista demanded P300 million worth of cost of living allowance from the MWSS, which was not been approved by the government body.

When asked however if the new case could be a stumbling block to her appointment at the High Tribunal, Devanadera said that the ball is now in the court of the JBC. “I submit to them,” she said.

Supreme Court Appointments Watch convenor Vincent Lazatin said that the JBC should “issue a categorical statement regarding the implementation of their rule regarding pending cases.”

Collection trouble

Three pending cases related to his functions as former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner haunt now private practitioner Jose Buñag. He has pending administrative and criminal cases at the Tanodbayan.

However, Buñag expressed hope that the cases--which have to do with an informer of the BIR collecting his fees-- will be rendered moot and academic because the complainant passed away in 2006. “The complainant passed away in the two cases,” he said.

However, Chief Justice Reynato Puno, JBC chairman and ex-oficio member, pointed out that the above cases have not been “dismissed outrightly.” He asked Buñag to follow-up on the resolution of the charges before the JBC comes up with its shortlist of nominees.

“You are aware of our rule on the disqualification of nominees with pending cases,” he said.

Buñag said that he would press for the expeditious resolution of the cases, and added that the Ombudsman is “reviewing” them.

Meanwhile, Buñag said that another case against him was recently dismissed.

The Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office junked the charges filed against him by BIR professional informer Danilo Lihay-lihay.

Lihay-lihay demanded P42 billion-worth of payment from the BIR, which is 25 percent of the P162 billion worth of taxes that the BIR collected in 2007. Lihay-lihay claimed that he had a hand in the said collection of such amount, and is therefore entitled to the said payment.

Corporate background

Buñag’s expertise in corporate law could be a disadvantage, however, as Puno zeroed in on his lack of experience in handling cases involving other fields of law.

“Social justice is about tackling the rights of the people, not of corporations,” he said.

Buñag worked for the legal arm of the Araneta Group of Companies, the ACRRA law firm, and the Roco Buñag firm where he mostly handled corporate disputes.

He was also assailed for not laying down a clear judicial philosophy. “I could not make heads or tails of your judicial philosophy,” Puno said.

Buñag dilly-dallied on two issues – on his stance on the activism of the court, and on the supremacy of the individual rights over the protection of the state.

JBC member Dean Amado Dimayuga asked Buñag if he is an activist or a passive justice, to which Buñag replied by saying that his decisions would be shaped by the 1987 Constitution which is “dynamic, not static.”

However, when Justice Sec. Raul Gonzalez asked him if the protection of the state should be put foremost over the consideration of individual rights, Buñag answered in the affirmative, only to waiver when Puno brought up the same subject.

“The 1987 Constitution is biased for individual rights,” Puno said.

Disagreement with Teves

On the other hand, appellate court Justice Aurora Lagman, another JBC member, focused on Buñag’s recent resignation at the BIR.

Buñag handed his walking papers to Malacañang in 2007 after he was reportedly hit for failing to meet collection targets.

“I resigned because of policy disagreement with [Finance Secretary Margarito] Teves on the setting of targets for the Bureau,” he said.

He said that the targets are supported heavily by economic data that centered on macro, not micro planning.

He also defended his record, and added that “no commissioner has met the target for 30 years.”

On the other hand, Justice Mariano Del Castillo informed the JBC that his sister-in-law recently filed an administrative complaint against him, though the case is still in the informal preliminary investigation stage.

“It’s about a homicide case,” he said, but did not elaborate on the details.