At least 17 are aspiring to be the next associate justice of the Supreme Court, which will have a lone vacancy on 4 June due to the compulsory retirement of Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez.
This will be the first appointee of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the 15-member SC, with at least three nominees to be submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).
The JBC, the constitutional office that accepts, screens, and nominates appointments to the judiciary, in line with its rules, has scheduled public interviews of the aspirants.
There are nine aspirants from the Court of Appeals (CA) — Presiding Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta and Associate Justices Nina G. Antonio-Valenzuela, Ramon M. Bato Jr., Carlito B. Calpatura, Ramon A. Cruz, Maria Elisa S. Diy, Myra V. Garcia-Fernandez, Ronaldo Roberto B. Martin, and Walter S. Ong.
Aspirants from the Sandiganbayan are Associate Justices Karl B. Miranda and Ronald B. Moreno, while Associate Justice Maria Rowena M. San Pedro is the aspirant from the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA).
The other aspirants are University of the Philippines College of Law Dean Darlene Marie B. Berberabe, private law practitioner who previously worked with the Department of Finance Maria Rosario de Leon, University of Asia and the Pacific Institute of Law Dean Maria Concepcion S. Noche, diplomat and former Department of Justice Undersecretary Manuel Antonio J. Teehankee, and SC Court Administrator Raul B. Villanueva.
On 14 May, the JBC will interview Antonio-Valenzuela, Bato, Berberabe, Bernardo, and Calpatura; Cruz, Diy, Garcia-Fernandez, and Lampas Peralta on 15 May; Martin, Miranda, Moreno, and Noche on May 16; and Ong, San Pedro, Teehankee, and Villanueva on 21 May.
The JBC said in an announcement issued by Clerk of Court Marife M. Lomibao-Cuevas, also ex-officio secretary of the JBC, “The public may submit a sworn complaint, report, or opposition against any of the candidates by mail or personal submission in three legible copies to the JBC, 2nd floor, SC-CA building, Maria Orosa Street, Ermita, Manila, or by electronic mail to jbc@judiciary.gov.ph not later than 4:30 p.m. on May 9.”