Who Will PNoy Appoint to the Supreme Court?
Get to Know the Next Supreme Court Associate Justice
Day 1 of the Judicial and Bar Council Public Interviews
Documented by: Leslie B. Flores and Reylynne F. dela Paz
Supreme Court Appointments Watch
On 19 July 2010, with less than 20 people inside the gallery, at around 9:50 am, or almost an hour late from the 9 o’clock am schedule, the Judicial and Bar Council interviewed five of the twenty eight applicants vying to be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Among those interviewed by JBC were Appellate Court Justices Hakim Abdulwahid and Mariflor Castillo, Justices Ernesto Acosta and Lovell Bautista of Court of Tax Appeals, and Sandiganbayan Justice Francisco Villaruz. Below are some notes from the public interview:
Justice Hakim Abdulwahid. Justice Abdulwahid has been nominated in four occasions in six Supreme Court vacancies in 2009. As an applicant, Justice Abdulwahid invokes the provision of the Republic Act 9054 or the Act amending Republic Act 6734, entitled ‘An Act Providing for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao”. Section 2 of the said Law provides that “it shall be the policy of the central government or national government that, whenever feasible, at least one (1) justice in the Supreme Court and two (2) justices in the Court of Appeals shall come from qualified jurists of the autonomous region.” When asked by JBC member J Castro however on how he assesses the Supreme Court in the delivery of justice, he said that he believes the High Court applies the Law to all citizens of the country regardless of religion.
Given the chance, Justice Abdulwahid would like to institute reforms in line with the effective administration of Sharia courts. On the possible reforms he would initiate in the Bar, his response was to support proposal to revise the format of bar exams wherein instead of essays, a certain portion of the exam should have objective type of questions.
On Constitutional amendments, Justice Abdulwahid thinks that the Senate and House of Representatives should vote separately as how they usually decide and vote on issues. He also prefers Constitutional Convention instead of Constituent Assembly.
He is in favor of foreigners acquiring lands in the country to improve the economy and attract investments, provided however that there should be limitations in their land acquisition. Justice Abdulwahid also favors the federal form of government because there will be more participation from the people and more funding in the local areas.
His judicial philosophy is to uphold the Constitution and rule of law and believes that justice is giving to the person what is due him.
He also believes that justices committing bribery should be dismissed from service and disbarred. He is most comfortable with labor law and has been a trial judge for 11 years.
Justice Abdulwahid currently has no pending case filed against him.
Justice Ernesto Acosta. Justice Acosta is the presiding justice of the Court of Tax Appeals. He believes that his experience is mainly but not exclusively on taxation. One of his major achievements in the CTA was to solve the problem of lack of adequate facilities for the Court of Tax Appeals. Justice Acosta has 95 percent affirmation rate of cases elevated to the Supreme Court. He believes that the challenge for him is to cope with the latest jurisprudence in fields of law other than taxation. He also was not very aware of the latest Supreme Court decisions and doctrines and despite his membership in the Board of the Philippine Judicial Academy, he seemed unaware of the PhilJA’s curriculum.
Get to Know the Next Supreme Court Associate Justice
Day 1 of the Judicial and Bar Council Public Interviews
Documented by: Leslie B. Flores and Reylynne F. dela Paz
Supreme Court Appointments Watch
On 19 July 2010, with less than 20 people inside the gallery, at around 9:50 am, or almost an hour late from the 9 o’clock am schedule, the Judicial and Bar Council interviewed five of the twenty eight applicants vying to be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Among those interviewed by JBC were Appellate Court Justices Hakim Abdulwahid and Mariflor Castillo, Justices Ernesto Acosta and Lovell Bautista of Court of Tax Appeals, and Sandiganbayan Justice Francisco Villaruz. Below are some notes from the public interview:
Justice Hakim Abdulwahid. Justice Abdulwahid has been nominated in four occasions in six Supreme Court vacancies in 2009. As an applicant, Justice Abdulwahid invokes the provision of the Republic Act 9054 or the Act amending Republic Act 6734, entitled ‘An Act Providing for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao”. Section 2 of the said Law provides that “it shall be the policy of the central government or national government that, whenever feasible, at least one (1) justice in the Supreme Court and two (2) justices in the Court of Appeals shall come from qualified jurists of the autonomous region.” When asked by JBC member J Castro however on how he assesses the Supreme Court in the delivery of justice, he said that he believes the High Court applies the Law to all citizens of the country regardless of religion.
Given the chance, Justice Abdulwahid would like to institute reforms in line with the effective administration of Sharia courts. On the possible reforms he would initiate in the Bar, his response was to support proposal to revise the format of bar exams wherein instead of essays, a certain portion of the exam should have objective type of questions.
On Constitutional amendments, Justice Abdulwahid thinks that the Senate and House of Representatives should vote separately as how they usually decide and vote on issues. He also prefers Constitutional Convention instead of Constituent Assembly.
He is in favor of foreigners acquiring lands in the country to improve the economy and attract investments, provided however that there should be limitations in their land acquisition. Justice Abdulwahid also favors the federal form of government because there will be more participation from the people and more funding in the local areas.
His judicial philosophy is to uphold the Constitution and rule of law and believes that justice is giving to the person what is due him.
He also believes that justices committing bribery should be dismissed from service and disbarred. He is most comfortable with labor law and has been a trial judge for 11 years.
Justice Abdulwahid currently has no pending case filed against him.
Justice Ernesto Acosta. Justice Acosta is the presiding justice of the Court of Tax Appeals. He believes that his experience is mainly but not exclusively on taxation. One of his major achievements in the CTA was to solve the problem of lack of adequate facilities for the Court of Tax Appeals. Justice Acosta has 95 percent affirmation rate of cases elevated to the Supreme Court. He believes that the challenge for him is to cope with the latest jurisprudence in fields of law other than taxation. He also was not very aware of the latest Supreme Court decisions and doctrines and despite his membership in the Board of the Philippine Judicial Academy, he seemed unaware of the PhilJA’s curriculum.
His judicial philosophy is to let “justice and fair play prevail”. His concept of justice is to render decision in accordance with the law and that which is acceptable to society.
In terms of judicial decorum, Justice Acosta thinks that justices are also social animals; and not because a justice has been appointed to the Supreme Court, he or she could no longer go to social gatherings.
He believes that judges found guilty of bribery should not only be dismissed and disbarred but also be subject to criminal charges.
He taught one subject in a law school in Angeles City, Pampanga in 2009 upon the request of Justice Vitug.
Justice Lovell Bautista. Justice Bautista obtained his Masters in Law from the University of Pennsylvania. His most important contribution in the Court of Tax Appeals is his zero-backlog on cases. As Chair of the Third Division of the CTA, he is also in charge of administrative and financial concerns of the Court which includes signing of checks, and hiring and promotion of employees. Like the previous applicants, Justice Bautista also has no pending administrative case.
Justice Bautista thinks that he should be the next associate justice of the Supreme Court because of his integrity and honesty. While CTA Justices are concentrated on taxation cases, he believes he could always force himself to study all aspects of the law. Justice Bautista however failed to answer many of the JBC questions on Supreme Court’s latest decisions.
Justice Bautista thinks that he should always be guided by the Constitution and Law and should always abide by the law even when it contradicts his conscience.
Justice Mariflor Castillo. While Justice Castillo is 21st in terms of seniority at the Court of Appeals, she thinks she is adequately prepared for the SC Associate Justice post. Justice Castillo believes that seniority should not be the prime consideration in appointing justices.
She said she can contribute to solving the problem at the Supreme Court and in the judiciary by pushing for full computerization, appointment of new judges to address overload of cases and the lack of judges in remote areas. She could also contribute to the Supreme Court her integrity and diligence and her track record will speak for itself.
Out of her 122 cases elevated to the SC for the past three years, only one case was reversed. She is comfortable in almost all areas of the law but thinks she needs to focus more on taxation. She also believes that her strength is her being unapproachable and her weakness is that she easily cries, i.e. in movies, etc. Her motivations to apply to Supreme Court are her children, husband, and that she feels it is time for her to try her luck and apply to be an associate justice of the High Court.
She believes that judges committing bribery should not only be dismissed from service but also disbarred and that a Justice should be proper in his/her lifestyle.
Justice Hermosisima of the JBC gave his all praises and endorsement to Justice Castillo during the interview. According to Hermosisima, Justice Castillo was his best prosecutor at the Sandidaganbayan.
No case has been filed against Justice Castillo.
Justice Francisco Villaruz. Justice Villaruz has been interviewed by the JBC on nine occasions and out of these, he has been nominated seven times. He is the third most senior justice of the Sandiganbayan and believes that seniority should not be the lone factor to consider in appointments. He has no pending case and no formal charges have been filed against him. He was 3rd rank in his UP class, 12th in the Bar, and has been exposed to the different facets of law practice.
Very few questions were asked to Justice Villaruz because of the numerous times he has been interviewed by the JBC in the previous vacancies.