Many were surprised with Noynoy suddenly going public, saying that he was not satisfied with the names submitted to him in the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) shortlist, despite the fact that the list is stacked with grade A allies and that it was drawn up by mostly his associates in the JBC.
For those observing his moves since he maneuvered to impeach former Supreme Court Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona and Corona’s ouster, however, Noynoy was being expected to exert a similar effort to distance himself from the new SC head.
The perception that the SC’s image was severely wounded with Corona’s impeachment as expressed by one of the nominees to the top seat in the judiciary, would be hard to turn around, more so with the inescapable view that the new CJ will complete the cast of an Aquino court and fulfill the goal of reclaiming the SC for Noynoy.
The JBC shortlist included acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, Associate Justices Roberto Abad, Arturo Brion, Teresita de Castro and Lourdes Sereno; Solicitor-General Francis Jardeleza, Ateneo de Manila University Law Dean Cesar Villanueva and former Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora. Yet many hold that the CJ post will be a toss up among Carpio, Sereno and Jardeleza who are all Noynoy sympathizers.
Noynoy was supposedly dissatisfied with the uneven application of the requirements on the nominees since not only the excluded Justice Secretary Leila de Lima have disbarment cases but also some other persons on the list.
Of course there was that necessary assurance that Noynoy will still choose the next CJ from the JBC list as if this needs belaboring since it is a constitutional requirement.
The whole charade was necessary to lend an impression that indeed Noynoy is acting within the bounds of his authority vested under the Constitution to pick the next SC head after the not so smooth removal of the previous occupant of the post.
Also, Noynoy has earned a reputation of constantly violating the Constitution, as well as his penchant for encroachment into the affairs of the two other co-equal and supposedly independent branches of government, and his claim of having no choice but to follow the Charter may yet be another badly scripted statement to change the public perception of Noynoy.
Or is he really saying he is disappointed in the JBC list because his ploy to get his Justice chief on the list didn’t work?
But criticisms that Noynoy had influenced the House impeachment of Corona and that he employed the full force of government to have Corona prosecuted remain persistent and continue to cast doubts on the independence of the SC after the conspiracy to purge Corona.
De Lima’s current predicament has made her out as being forced into the list is untenable, thus more would be gained if she steps back for now with the likely guarantee that she will eventually get one of the seats of the SC justices if not her becoming the next SC head.
The Palace spin doctors are likely poor scriptwriters since glossed over was that the same complaint that Noynoy is using, which was the uneven application of the rules, having been the reason for the disbarment case against De Lima.
Noynoy, also, going by his gripes and using this in choosing the next SC head should exclude Jardeleza, Sereno and Carpio from among those he will choose the next SC head since complaints were raised against them the same way that Noynoy believed there was an uneven application of JBC rules.
What is certain is that the gimmick is so poorly done that it gets a B movie rating.