The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) Monday rejected the request of the Office of the President (OP) to expand the list of nominees to two vacant slots in the 15-member Supreme Court (SC) as it stood firm on its six nominations – three for each vacancy -- in line with the provision of the Constitution.

In a letter to Executive Secretary Eduardo R. Ermita, JBC ex-officio chairman and Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno said “... the JBC cannot acquiesce to your request to expand the short list of nominees submitted to your office.”

“The decision whether to include three or more than three names in the short list of nominees exclusively belongs to the JBC. It is one of the important innovations in the 1987 Constitution designed to depoliticize the appointments in the judiciary and promote its independence,” the letter stated.

“This discretion given to the JBC is the lynchpin of its autonomy and it cannot be compromised in the tiniest degree without impairing the delicate check and balance in the appointment of members of the judiciary installed in the Constitution,” it stressed.

The Constitution, under Section 9, Article VIII, provides that “the members of the Supreme Court and judges of the lower courts shall be appointed by the President from a list of at least three nominees prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council for every vacancy. Such appointments need no confirmation.”

Last July 24, the OP – through Secretary Ermita – sent a letter to the JBC returning the short list of nominees submitted on June 26 with a request “to expand the list of six nominees for the two positions of associate justice of the Supreme Court (SC).”

The July 24 letter stated that: “Considering the importance and far-reaching consequences of the appointments to the two positions, the President cannot be too careful about the selection and appointment of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. It is respectfully submitted that the two positions deserve a wider array of nominees to be submitted for the President’s consideration.”

Acting on the letter, Chief Justice Puno calendared the issue that was tackled in Monday’s regular JBC meeting.

Besides Puno, the other members of the JBC are Acting Justice Secretary Agnes VST Devanadera, Sen. Francis Escudero, Rep. Matias V. Defensor, Jr., retired SC Justice Regino C. Hermosisima, Dean Amado L. Dimayuga, Atty. Conrado Castro, and retired CA Associate Justice Aurora Santiago Lagman. Devanadera was absent in Monday’s meeting.