The Supreme Court (SC) has been asked to set the oral arguments for the petition concerning the appointment of the successor to Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who will retire on May 17.

In two separate motions filed with the SC, lawyers Peter Irving Corvera and Christian Robert Lim said an oral argument for the case is warranted since it involves “issues of transcendental importance that are imbued with public interest.”

Both Corvera and Lim earlier filed their oppositions-in-intervention in the petition of lawyer Arturo De Castro that seeks to compel the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) to submit the nominees for the new Chief Justice to President Arroyo.

However, Section 15, Article VII of the Constitution expressly prohibits the President from making midnight appointments two months immediately preceding the May 10 elections and until her term expires. This period covers the retirement date of Chief Justice Puno.

Corvera, in his motion, prayed that the case be heard on oral argument “in order to better thresh out the constitutional issues presented to provide all the parties herein the full opportunity to be heard and respond to questions on this burning issue that involves no less than the chief magistrate of the High Tribunal.”