The Philippine Online Chronicles

Associate Justice Renato Corona, a former chief of staff of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has accepted his nomination by the Judicial Bar and Council (JBC) for the post of chief justice.

In a letter to JBC ex-officio secretary Ma. Luisa Villarama, he wrote, “I humbly submit to the wisdom of the JBC in the exercise of its mandate under the Constitution.”

Corona is the fourth to be considered to replace Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who will be retiring on May 17 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Controversy has surrounded the process of nominating Puno’s successor as some have pointed to a constitutional stipulation that the incumbent president may not appoint anyone to office two months before a national election. According to Malacanang however, this stipulation does not cover appointments in the judiciary.

“Why are some senators trying to prevent the President from exercising her constitutional rights and duties to make appointments?” asked Representative Pedro Romualdo, chairman of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability.

“We can’t have an OIC [officer-in-charge] in the first and second branches of government (the executive and the legislative). We must not also have an OIC as head of the judiciary,” added Lanao del Norte Representative Abdullah Dimaporo.

Corona has accepted the nomination without condition, unlike other nominees Special Prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio and Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio-Morales, who will only accept their nominations if their names are submitted for appointment by the next president.

The JBC will be meeting on Monday to discuss whether or not President Arroyo does have the legal right to appoint Puno’s successor despite the upcoming national elections in May.