List of aspiring AJ announced

The Department of Justice (DoJ) on Wednesday revealed the long list of applicants for the vacated Associate Justice post left by now Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin — with Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang leading the starry cast of applicants.

DoJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra — a member of the Judicial and Bar Council by virtue of his position — said the panel received 22 names applying for the post and noted that the first deliberation of the applicants is on 31 January.

Cabotaje-Tang, who faced the JBC for a public interview on 5 December 2018, was appointed as Sandigan presiding judge in 2013 at the time when the P10 billion pork barrel fund scam was already filed at the Office of the Ombudsman against lawmakers who allegedly in cahoots with trader Janet Lim Napoles.

Aside from Cabotaje-Tang, Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Efren de la Cruz also applied for the vacant position which also has at least 14 Court of Appeals justices vying for the position.

The CA applicants are Associate Justices Nina Antonio-Valenzuela, Ramon Bato Jr., Apolinario Bruselas Jr., Ramon Cruz, Stephen Cruz, Edgardo de los Santos, Japar Dimaampao, Ramon Garcia, Henri Jean-Paul Inting, Amy Lazaro-Javier, Jhosep Lopez, Mario Lopez, Eduardo Peralta Jr., Ricardo Rosario and Oscar Badelles.

The other applicants to the AJ position are SC spokesman and Court Administrator Midas Marquez, Roman del Rosario of the Court of Tax Appeal, Cesar Villanueva of the private sector, Lanee Cui David of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Jeremy Gatdula from the academe.