Two former Senate presidents said Tuesday that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is constitutionally banned from making midnight appointments, including a Malacañang move to appoint the replacement of Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Norberto Geraldez who passed away last Sunday.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel Jr. said any kind of judicial appointment that the President would do within two months before the scheduled May 10, 2010 elections starting March 10 to the end of her term on June 30 is illegal and questionable.

It is very clear that the Constitution prohibits any midnight appointments, Pimentel, a former Senate President, said.

Former Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, national chairman of the Liberal Party (LP) and a leading LP senatorial candidate, maintained that the constitutional ban against midnight appointments is in effect.

Drilon then asked Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) not submit to Malacañang a list of nominees for the replacement of Geraldez since the ban is still in effect despite the Supreme court’s ruling that the President can appoint the successor of Chief Justice Reynato Puno who retires on May 17. (Mario Casayuran)