By VERA Files PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino made history by appointing Lourdes Sereno as the country’s first female Chief Justice, but he also broke tradition by setting aside the seniority rule and naming to the highest judicial post one of the Court’s youngest associate justices, who also happens to be his college schoolmate.
By LALA ORDENES CONGRESS is entitled to only one vote in the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). In a 7-2 decision with five abstentions last week, the Supreme Court declared the current practice of allowing members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives to participate and vote in JBC’s proceedings unconstitutional.
By VERA FILES
The Judicial and Bar Council represents the first and crucial step in the judicial appointment process. Ultimately, however, the person responsible for appointments of all the country’s judges and justices is the President.
By LALA ORDENES THE conviction of Renato Corona, the first time in the country’s history a chief justice is removed from office by impeachment, has thrown the Supreme Court and even the Judicial and Bar Council into uncharted waters, forcing the High Tribunal to contradict itself and act against its own pronouncements.
FULL TEXT of the TRO on the implementation of the subpoena to PSBank Katipunan Branch. Also read Associate Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno's dissenting opinion and Associate Justice Arturo D. Brion's concurring opinion.