Reacting to calls from other House allies, led by House Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzales II for both allies of President Aquino and former President Gloria Arroyo to decline their nominations for the post of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to ensure that the high court would not be the subject of speculation on the issue of independence and non-partiality to Aquino, a senator who is also a member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), the body that screens the nominees and submits a list of a minimum three names from which the President makes a choice, yesterday said the decision lies in the hands of the person who had submitted the name of the nominee and the candidate himself on whether to withdraw from being among the aspirants to the vacated highest position in the Supreme Court.
Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero said this yesterday in response to the call made by Gonzales  to chief justice nominees highly identified with both the  former President and the incumbent tenant in Malacañang.
“That’s a good proposition (but) it’s a decision of the one who nominated and the nominee. The JBC is a passive body,” the senator said.
The lower house leader made the call citing the need to ensure that the next SC chief would be “independent” and maintain the integrity of the Judiciary from any influential political figures.
Gonzales stressed that any appointee identified with President Aquino could fuel wild speculation that former Chief Justice Renato Corona was removed because of a strong lobby from the Liberal Party to replace him with an ally.
Gonzales was referring to acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio who is associated with Liberal Party president Mar Roxas.
Escudero said that in the case of former presidential candidate and presidential cousin, Gilbert Teodoro, he declined the nomination because he was not consulted when his name was submitted to the body.
“Apparently, he was not told that he will be nominated and I think that’s understandable,” Escudero said.
While there are others who asked that their names  not to be made public unless they have been included in the shortlist of JBC, this is also the reason some candidates’ names  are yet to be disclosed, the senator said, adding that they do not even have any “draft” of the list at this point.
Based on the new requirements imposed by the JBC, nominees are being asked to submit their statement of
assets, liabilities and net worth (SALn) and execute a waiver on the secrecy of their bank deposits.
“This is for us to determine whether they have bank deposits existing even before they joined the government or if it was only recently opened. The reason behind that is simple. The former chief justice was removed from his post on the same ground. We’re just hoping that the one who will replace (Corona) will not be placed in a similar situation,” he said.
“We do not want to undergo the same (impeachment) process again. We’ve had enough. So for now, I think we ought to impose such and ensure that they have complied with the requirements,” he added.
The waiver, Escudero said, would be addressed only to the JBC for the body to make a comparison or validation of the entries made by the nominee in his SALn.
It will be highly confidential and its contents will not be made public, the senator said.
Executive Secretary Paquito “Jojo” Ochoa Jr. is now among the nominees for the position of chief magistrate of the Supreme Court vacated by Corona.
Ochoa was endorsed on Friday to the JBC through an email letter sent by a certain Egay Bigay.
Also added to the list of nominees as of Friday was Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Gabriel Ingles, who was endorsed by lawyer Edwin Bacalso.
SC Associate Justice Jose  Mendoza on Friday declined his nomination for the Chief Justice post in a letter to the JBC.
Aside from Mendoza, those who had earlier declined their respective nominations were SC Associate Justices Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Bienvenido Reyes and Mariano del Castillo.
Junior Justice Lourdes Sereno, the first appointee of Aquino and perceived as a true-blue Aquino loyalist, has as yet not declined her nomination.
Gonzales, an ally of Aquino, said the need to have an independent chief justice of the SC should start with the nominees.
“The nominees associated with President Aquino and former President Arroyo should not join the selection process and instead voluntarily withdraw their nominations. This is for the good of the country,” Gonzales said yesterday in a chance interview.
He said the “sacrifice” on the part of the nominees would help ensure the independence of the Supreme Court from influential political figures.
“Acting Chief Justice Carpio should be considered out of the race. The President locked in himself not to appoint a candidate close to him because the challenge for him is to appoint the next Chief Justice who is very much qualified and has no connection with him,” Gonzales said.