MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will soon decide who will lead a Supreme Court dominated by appointees of his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, after the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) shortlisted five candidates for chief justice, including two senior magistrates who have repeatedly taken opposing positions on major constitutional and political issues.
The choice will also come as the high tribunal faces heightened scrutiny over its recent rulings on government spending, accountability for corruption and the limits of executive and legislative power.
The JBC announced on Thursday that it had included Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen and Associate Justices Alfredo Caguioa, Rodil Zalameda, Japar Dimaampao and Jose Midas Marquez in the shortlist submitted to Mr. Marcos after public interviews and closed-door deliberations.
Associate Justices Ramon Paul Hernando and Henri Inting withdrew their nominations.
Outgoing Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo is due to retire on Nov. 6 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. Under the Constitution, Mr. Marcos must appoint his successor within 90 days from the vacancy.
The next chief justice will inherit a court whose membership largely reflects Duterte’s appointments, making the selection consequential for the judiciary’s direction and its handling of contentious cases involving government officials and institutions.
Leonen, 63, is the most senior among the five candidates and one of only two incumbent members of the Supreme Court on the shortlist who were appointed by a president other than Duterte.
An appointee of the late President Benigno Aquino III, Leonen recently penned the decision on challenges to the constitutionality of unprogrammed appropriations in the national budgets covering the last three years of the Marcos administration.
He also wrote the ruling declaring the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte unconstitutional for violating the one-year bar, a decision the court subsequently affirmed.
His record places him at the center of two major constitutional questions confronting the Marcos administration: the limits of Congress’ power over the national budget and the legal boundaries governing impeachment.
During his Oct. 22 interview with the JBC, Leonen proposed an independent study of major corruption cases involving big-ticket government transactions and other matters brought before the Supreme Court since the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.
The review, he said, should determine whether those responsible for corruption had been held accountable and identify factors behind prolonged litigation.
Leonen cited several possible causes of delay, including failures by judges, the absence of prosecution members, errors in presenting evidence, negotiated settlements and declining public interest.
Former Vice President Leni Robredo, now Naga City mayor, endorsed Leonen last month, citing his record and integrity in various leadership roles in the judiciary.
The 67-year-old Caguioa, the second-most senior candidate, is also an Aquino appointee and a former justice secretary. He is a close friend and former classmate of Aquino at Ateneo de Manila University.
Caguioa drew attention for authoring an SC decision invalidating warrantless searches and seizures of suspected illegal drugs in vehicles based solely on unverified anonymous information, a ruling that challenged a key enforcement practice associated with Duterte’s antinarcotics campaign.
“When the Constitution is disregarded, the battle against illegal drugs becomes a self-defeating and self-destructive enterprise,” Caguioa wrote.
“A battle waged against illegal drugs that tramples on the rights of the people is not a war on drugs; it is a war against the people.”
During his JBC interview last week, Caguioa called for strengthening the judiciary’s integrity mechanisms, particularly the Judicial Integrity Office, by granting it more expansive powers to investigate complaints against erring members of the courts.
He said the office should be able to conduct more in-depth investigations rather than routinely relying on the Philippine National Police or the National Bureau of Investigation.
Asked why corruption cases sometimes take years to resolve before ending in acquittals, Caguioa cautioned against prejudging accused persons based on media coverage, stressing that cases must be decided on the evidence.
Leonen and Caguioa were also among the SC justices who dissented in 2016 from the decision allowing the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. at Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Duterte appointees in the race
Zalameda, 63, is the most senior Duterte appointee among the five shortlisted candidates. Before joining the Supreme Court, he served as an associate justice of the Court of Appeals.
He was among the justices who dissented from the ruling on unprogrammed appropriations, arguing that Congress was not barred from proposing new programs, activities and projects that were absent from the National Expenditure Program submitted by the executive branch.
Zalameda also authored the SC decision acquitting former first lady Imelda Marcos of seven counts of graft, reversing a November 2018 Sandiganbayan ruling that had sentenced her to prison terms totaling as much as 77 years.
In defending the importance of judicial procedure, Zalameda stressed that rules on the sufficiency of allegations, admissibility of evidence and evidentiary weight could not be disregarded simply because a case attracted intense public interest.
Marquez, 60, another Duterte appointee, also served in the court’s First Division that concurred in the acquittal of Imelda Marcos.
Considered a homegrown member of the judiciary, Marquez began working at the Supreme Court in 1991 as an apprentice and later held various positions, including serving as court administrator for more than a decade.
He wrote the 2023 ruling that said the Commission on Elections could not confiscate election paraphernalia located on private property. He also penned last year’s decision affirming barangays’ authority to hold bingo fundraisers without obtaining permission from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
Dimaampao, 62, is also a Duterte appointee and the second Muslim to serve on the Supreme Court after Abdulwahid Bidin. He previously served as presiding judge of the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court and as a Court of Appeals justice.
During his JBC interview, Dimaampao said he would prioritize building a more humane judiciary that treats people equally regardless of religion, ethnicity or social standing.
One of his notable rulings lifted tax assessments against contractors involved in the Malampaya gas project. The Supreme Court said the government’s 60-percent share of the project’s profits had already covered the income taxes in question for 2002 to 2009.
Second vacancy
The selection of the next chief justice is unfolding alongside the search for a new associate justice to replace Amy Lazaro-Javier, who is scheduled to retire on Nov. 16.
The JBC shortlisted 11 candidates for the associate justice post, including Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Fernanda Peralta and Associate Justices Ramon Bato Jr., Ronaldo Martin, Walter Ong, Ramon Cruz, Maria Elisa Diy and Myra Garcia-Fernandez.
The other candidates are Solicitor General Darlene Berberabe, Commission on Audit Chair Gamaliel Cordoba, Commission on Elections Commissioner Ernesto Maceda Jr. and Court of Tax Appeals Associate Justice Maria Rowena San Pedro.
The two appointments will give Marcos an opportunity to shape the Supreme Court’s leadership and membership as it continues to decide disputes involving government accountability, constitutional safeguards and the exercise of political power.
The JBC is constitutionally mandated to recommend nominees to the President for vacant posts in the judiciary and the Office of the Ombudsman.
Created under the supervision of the SC, it is composed of the Chief Justice as ex officio chair, the secretary of justice, and a representative of the Senate and the House of Representatives as ex officio members, a representative of the Integrated Bar, a professor of law, a retired member of the Supreme Court, and a representative of the private sector.