Appellate court justices, SolGen among candidates for next SC justice - Rappler

Already have Rappler+? Sign in to listen to groundbreaking journalism.

HIGHEST COURT. File photo of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors.

MANILA, Philippines – Familiar names, including incumbent justices of the Court of Appeals (CA), are among the candidates for the next Supreme Court (SC) associate justice, based on the list made public by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) on Friday, October 9.

In total, there are 19 bets for the position that will be vacated by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro Javier who will retire on November 16.

These applicants will face the JBC in public interviews scheduled on October 13 and 15. This is part of the council’s selection process.

Meanwhile, the JBC also released the names of the other candidates this year, who had applied in 2025. They will not take part in the October 13 and 15 schedule because their past interviews are still valid:

Section 7(1), Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution sets the requirement for an SC justice: “No person shall be appointed Member of the Supreme Court or any lower collegiate court unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines. A Member of the Supreme Court must be at least forty years of age, and must have been for fifteen years or more a judge of a lower court or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines.”

On top of this, a JBC 2020 rule states that an SC justice must serve a minimum of 2.5 years. This means that the eldest age of a candidate should be 67.5 years old, since the mandatory retirement age for justices is 70 years old.

The retirement of Lazaro Javier, an appointee of former president Rodrigo Duterte, will pave the way for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s second appointment to the SC after Associate Justice Raul Villanueva in 2025.

From the nominees, the JBC will make a short list of at least three applicants that will be transmitted to Malacañang. Marcos, as the appointing authority, will make the final choice based on the JBC list.

Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo is also set to retire on November 6. The JBC will hold the same selection process to screen the candidates for the next chief magistrate. – Rappler.com