Solicitor General Agnes Devanadera, said to be a frontrunner to the Supreme Court because of her ties to President Arroyo, thumbed down open voting in the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). “Open voting could mean more pressure from sectors,” she said as Chief Justice Reynato Puno, JBC chairman, sought her opinion on the issue during her public interview.

Devanadera was placed at the hot seat Thursday, the second round of JBC’s public interviews of the 14 nominees to the SC post to be vacated by Justice Ruben Reyes on January 3, 2009.

The issue of open voting in the JBC has become significant as Pres. Arroyo will appoint the next seven Supreme Court justices, raising her appointees in the SC to 13 before her term expires in 2010. Critics say the President is firming up her hold on the High Court.

J. Conrado Castro, representative of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to the JBC, proposed the measure of open voting to enhance transparency.

However, the JBC has yet to reach a consensus on the proposal. The JBC members are expected to vote on it Monday.

Trusting the JBC

Puno asked for Devanadera’s thoughts on the matter, the first time that such query was posed to one of the SC nominees.

When Devanadera disagreed with the proposal, Puno said that the public display of voting could increase trust for the JBC, which screens SC contenders.

“Wouldn’t the trust be enhanced through the open voting?” he asked.

 Puno explained that the Commission on Appointments, the authority that confirms appointments made by the President, makes its votes known to the public.

Devanadera stuck to her opinion. She was not aware that the CA votes openly.

“It’s about the trust for the JBC. We have too little trust in government,” she saidd.

But Castro commented that if open voting would be considered “valid ground” for fears that it would make the JBC more vulnerable to pressures, “the Supreme Court should vote through secret balloting.”

Puno also asked Devanadera if she was aware of how justices in the US are chosen. The solicitor general said she does not know the selection process in the US.
 

Separately or jointly

An important issue for the next Supreme Court justices is interpreting the constitutional requirement for Congress in voting for amendments to the 1987 Charter. This was also raised in the interview.

Sec. 1 Article XVII of the1987 Constitution mandates that “Any amendment to, or revision of, this Constitution may be proposed by the Congress, upon a vote of three fourths of all its members, or by a constitutional convention.”

Observers say that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of this provision in 2010 is key in the extension of Arroyo’s term beyond 2010, as the 15 member-body would decide if the Congress could exercise its power to amend the Constitution by voting jointly or separately.

Devanadera said that the language of the Constitution is simply too vague on the matter. “There are modifiers in the Constitution when they refer to the Congress. Unfortunately, it is simply “Congress.” Both houses would vote as one because it has not been provided,” she explained.

Another SC hopeful, appellate court Justice Remedios Salazar-Fernando, took another view. “The House of Representatives and the Senate should vote separately because the lower house could outnumber the Senate,” she said, but failed to propound on the spirit of the 1987 Constitution which supports such option.

Estrada’s shot

Puno also quizzed Devanadera on the constitutionality of former Pres. Joseph Estrada’s possible bid for the presidency in 2010.

Estrada recently expressed his desire to seek the presidency if the opposition fails to unite behind a “better” candidate.

Legal experts have debated over this subject. Some insist that Estrada could still run for the 2010 presidential election for his term was cut short in 2001, when the public demanded his removal from office over accusations of accepting jueteng payoffs.

“The one term is something he did not finish,” she said, but added that she is not “definite” if it translates to a constitutional violation.

Independence

Meanwhile, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta, another nominee, was asked to prove his independence amid his family’s connections to Pres. Arroyo.

Peralta’s father, Manila Court of First Instance Judge Elvin Peralta, is a friend of Arroyo’s father, the late Pres. Diosdado Macapagal.

“You’re very close to the Malacañang tenant. It might affect your independence. Your name is the name of the President’s father,” Dean Amado Dimayuga, another JBC member, pointed out.

But Peralta maintained that his track record in the judiciary would attest to his independence. Peralta has been in the Sandiganbayan for six years and in the judiciary for 18 years, staring out as Presiding Judge in Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 95 in September 1994.

“I am independent. I cannot deny that my father and the late Pres. Macapagal were classmates at UP and then schoolmates at UST…My father idolized Diosdado Macapagal because he was so poor but so bright,” he said.

However, he said that he cannot relinquish his independence for personal friendships. “I will not sacrifice my independence just to accommodate somebody else,” he said.

Puno likewise asked Devanadera how she could be an independent justice in the light of her present job, solicitor general, and past position, counsel for government corporations. The OSG, by law, is not independent from the executive.

Devanadera said that, as counsel for government corporations, she argued for a decision that went against local governments despite her being a former mayor.