Judicial and Bar Council

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC; Filipino: Sangguniang Panghukuman at Pang-abogasya) of the Philippines is a constitutionally-created body that recommends appointees for vacancies that may arise in the composition of the Supreme Court, other lower courts, and the Legal Education Board, and in the offices of the Ombudsman, Deputy Ombudsman and the Special Prosecutor.

Judicial and Bar Council
Sangguniang Panghukuman at Pang-abogasya
JBC seal
AbbreviationJBC
PurposeRecommending appointees to the Judiciary
Location
Membership
7
  • Presidential appointment upon approval of the Commission on Appointments (regular members and Secretary of Justice)
  • Presidential appointment from nominees of the Judicial and Bar Council (Chief Justice)
  • Nomination by each house of Congress (Member from Congress)
Chairperson
Diosdado Peralta
Parent organization
Supreme Court of the Philippines
Websitejbc.judiciary.gov.ph
The JBC members in the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Panel Interview

Composition

The Council is composed of a representative of the Integrated Bar, a professor of law, a retired member of the Supreme Court, and a representative of the private sector. They are the "regular" members, as opposed to the Secretary of Justice and a representative of Congress who are the ex officio members. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the ex officio chairman,[1] while the Clerk of the Supreme Court shall serve as the ex officio secretary.[2]

The regular members would be nominated by the President with the consent of the Commission on Appointments for a term of four years. However, since the terms will be staggered, the first set of members would a different lengths of service: the representative of the Integrated Bar shall serve for four years, the professor of law for three years, the retired Justice for two years, and the representative of the private sector for one year.[3] The following members shall be given the full four-year term.

The regular members were allowed to be reappointed without limit. The Secretary of Justice serves at the pleasure of the president, while the representative of Congress serves until they are recalled by their chamber, or until the term of Congress that named them expires. Finally, the Chief Justice serves until mandatory retirement at the age of 70. The regular members' terms start at July 9.

In 2012, a petition at the Supreme Court questioned on who should occupy the seat allocated for Congress. By then, there are two members of Congress in the council, with both having voting rights: the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Justice and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights.[4] The Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that there should only be one member of the JBC from Congress; the court left to Congress whom among the two would be its representative to the JBC.[5]

The council is the only government body that has members from all three branches of the government, excluding ad hoc and advisory bodies.

Current membership

The members of the Judicial and Bar Council are:

Ex officio chairperson

Ex officio members

Regular members
  • Franklin Jarod Demonteverde, Sr. - Integrated Bar representative, a retired judge
  • Noel G. Tijam - representative from the academe[6]
  • Jose C. Mendoza - retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
  • Toribio E. Ilao, Jr. - representative from the private sector[7]

As a matter of tradition, the two (2) senior associate justices of the Supreme Court also take part in the JBC deliberations.

Function

The function of the Council is to recommend to the representatives of possible appointees to the Judiciary.[8]

The president shall choose from among those nominated, before the president may ask the Council to nominate somebody else and add it to the list, but this is not allowed anymore. In 2009, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo asked the council to add more nominees on two Supreme Court vacancies. The council rejected the request.[9] Arroyo then appointed someone from the list.[10]

The person then chosen by the president then becomes a member of the Judiciary, and is not anymore reviewed by the Commission on Appointments. This is to prevent politicking and horse-trading among political parties.

Prior to the creation of the JBC, judges and justices were appointed by the president as per the 1973 constitution, and with confirmation by the Commission on Appointments as per the 1935 constitution.

Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban said that the Council's principal objective is to attract the best and brightest to the judiciary and to make them remain there.

  • Judicial and Bar Council office
  • Logo of the Supreme Court
  • JBC building
  • Entrance to the JBC offices

Members

The members of the JBC were:[11]

Chief Justice
Main article: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
JBC ex officio Chairpersons Start of Term End of Term Appointed by
Claudio Teehankee 10 December 1987 12 April 1988 Corazon Aquino
Pedro Yap 20 April 1988 29 June 1988
Marcelo Fernan 4 July 1988 5 December 1991
Andres Narvasa 8 December 1991 30 November 1998
Hilario Davide, Jr. 30 November 1998 19 December 2005 Joseph Estrada
Artemio Panganiban 20 December 2005 6 December 2006 Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Reynato Puno 7 December 2006 17 May 2010
Renato Corona 17 May 2010 29 May 2012
Maria Lourdes Sereno 24 August 2012 11 May 2018 Benigno Aquino III
Teresita de Castro 28 August 2018 8 October 2018 Rodrigo Duterte
Lucas P. Bersamin 28 November 2018 18 October 2019
Diosdado Peralta 23 October 2019 present

Secretaries of Justice
Main article: Secretary of Justice (Philippines)
Secretaries of Justice Start of Term End of Term Appointed by
Sedfrey Ordoñez 10 December 1987 18 December 1989 Corazon Aquino
Franklin Drilon 8 January 1990 2 July 1992
Silvestre Bello III 16 July 1991 3 February 1992
Eduardo Montenegro 17 February 1992 1 June 1992
Franklin Drilon 22 July 1992 14 December 1994 Fidel V. Ramos
Demetrio Demetria 18 January 1995 17 March 1995
Teofisto Guingona, Jr. 24 May 1995 28 January 1998
Silvestre Bello III 18 February 1998 30 June 1998
Serafin Cuevas 1 July 1998 10 February 2000 Joseph Estrada
Artemio Tuquero 11 February 2000 20 January 2001
Hernando Perez 23 January 2001 15 January 2003 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Simeon Datumanong 22 January 2003 December 2003
Merceditas Gutierrez 28 January 2004 31 August 2004
Raul M. Gonzalez 1 September 2004 30 May 2009
Agnes Devanadera 8 June 2009 28 February 2010
Alberto Agra 1 March 2010 30 June 2010
Leila de Lima 1 July 2010 12 October 2015 Benigno Aquino III
Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa 12 October 2015 22 January 2016
Emmanuel Caparas 22 January 2016 30 June 2016
Vitaliano Aguirre II 1 July 2016 4 April 2018 Rodrigo Duterte
Menardo Guevarra 5 April 2018 present

Representative from Congress

Since the creation of the JBC in 1987 until 1994, the representation for Congress in the body alternated between the House of Representatives and the Senate, by their respective Chairman of the Committee on Justice.

One representative
Congress representative House Start of Term End of Term
Rogaciano Mercado House of Representatives 10 December 1987 23 February 1989
Wigberto Tañada Senate 2 March 1988 21 May 1990
Isidro Zarraga House of Representatives 31 July 1989 12 August 1992
Raul Roco Senate 30 September 1992 3 March 1993

Two representatives, half a vote each

By 1994, the two representatives from Congress began sitting simultaneously, each having one-half of a vote.

Two representatives, one vote each

On May 30, 2001, the JBC En Banc decided to grant the representatives from both Houses of Congress one full vote each.

One representative

On 2013, the eight-member composition of the JBC was questioned at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court restored the composition of the JBC to seven. It was arranged that the representative of the House of Representatives sits from January to June, while the representative of the Senate sits from July to December.[12]

Congress representative House Start of Term End of Term
Aquilino Pimentel III Senate 23 July 2013 31 December 2013
Niel Tupas, Jr. House of Representatives 1 January 2014 30 June 2014
Aquilino Pimentel III Senate 1 July 2014 31 December 2014
Niel Tupas, Jr. House of Representatives 1 January 2015 30 June 2015
Aquilino Pimentel III Senate 1 July 2015 31 December 2015
Niel Tupas, Jr. House of Representatives 1 January 2016 30 June 2016
Leila de Lima Senate 26 July 2016 19 September 2016
Richard J. Gordon Senate 29 September 2016 31 December 2016
Reynaldo Umali House of Representatives 1 January 2017 30 June 2017
Richard J. Gordon Senate 1 July 2017 31 December 2017
Reynaldo Umali House of Representatives 1 January 2018 30 June 2018
Richard J. Gordon Senate 1 July 2018 31 December 2018
Vicente Veloso III House of Representatives 1 January 2019 30 June 2019
Richard J. Gordon Senate 22 July 2019 31 December 2019
Vicente Veloso III House of Representatives 1 January 2020 30 June 2020
Richard J. Gordon Senate 1 July 2020 Present

Retired member of the Supreme Court
Retired Supreme Court member representative Start of Term End of Term Appointed by
Nestor Alampay 10 December 1987 10 December 1989 Corazon Aquino
Lorenzo Relova 8 January 1990 9 July 1993
Jose Campos, Jr. 22 September 1993 9 July 1997 Fidel V. Ramos
Regino C. Hermosisima Jr. 24 November 1997 9 July 2013 Fidel V. Ramos, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez 8 October 2014 9 July 2017 Benigno Aquino III
Jose C. Mendoza 4 October 2017 incumbent (ends 9 July 2021) Rodrigo Duterte

Representative from the academe
Academe representative Start of Term End of Term Appointed by
Rodolfo Palma 10 December 1987 9 July 1994 Corazon Aquino
Cezar Peralejo 8 February 1995 9 July 1998 Fidel V. Ramos
Alfredo Marigomen 21 July 1998 9 July 2002 Joseph Estrada
Amado Dimayuga 9 July 2003 9 July 2010 Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Jose Mejia 28 April 2011 9 July 2018 Benigno Aquino III
Noel Tijam 6 March 2019 incumbent Rodrigo Duterte

Representative from the Integrated Bar
Integrated Bar representative Start of Term End of Term Appointed by
Leon Garcia, Jr. 17 June 1988 9 July 1991 Corazon Aquino
Presbitero Velasco, Jr. 7 January 1993 22 March 1995 Fidel V. Ramos
Francisco Santiago 1 August 1995 8 July 1996
Amado Dimayuga 8 July 1997 9 July 2003
Conrado Castro 9 July 2003 17 March 2011 Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Maria Milagros Fernan-Cayosa 2 May 2011 9 July 2019 Benigno Aquino III
Franklin Demonteverde 2 August 2019 incumbent Rodrigo Duterte

Representative from the private sector
Private sector representative Start of Term End of Term Appointed by
Ofelia Santos 10 December 1987 9 July 1992 Corazon Aquino
Teresita Cruz Sison 30 September 1992 9 July 2004 Fidel V. Ramos,
Joseph Estrada
Raoul Victorino 12 July 2005 9 July 2008 Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Aurora Santiago Lagman 13 October 2008 9 July 2016
Benigno Aquino III
Toribio Ilao, Jr. 24 October 2016 incumbent (ends 9 July 2020) Rodrigo Duterte

Notes
  1. 1987 Constitution, Article VIII, Section 8, Paragraph 1
  2. 1987 Constitution, Article VIII, Section 8, Paragraph 3
  3. 1987 Constitution, Article VIII, Section 8, Paragraph 2
  4. "SC asks JBC to comment on Chavez petition". GMANews.tv. 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
  5. Punay, Edu (2012-07-03). "Only one member from Congress in JBC, SC affirms". Philippine Star. Retrieved 2013-04-17.
  6. "Ex-SC justice Tijam appointed to Judicial and Bar Council". ABS-CBN News. 6 March 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  7. newsinfo.inquirer.net, CA justice named to body that screens judicial appointees Archived 2008-09-07 at the Wayback Machine
  8. 1987 Constitution, Article VIII, Section 8, Paragraph 5
  9. Sy, Marvin; Punay, Edu (2009-08-04). "JBC rejects Palace demand for more nominees to Supreme Court". philstar.com. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  10. Sy, Marvin. "Malacañang bows to JBC, will review Supreme Court shortlist". philstar.com. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  11. "JBC CHAIRPERSONS, EX OFFICIO AND REGULAR MEMBERS, EX OFFICIO SECRETARIES AND CONSULTANTS". Supreme Court of the Philippines. Archived from the original on 2012-07-28. Retrieved 2012-08-25.
  12. Torres-Tupas, Tetch (2017-01-17). "SC to JBC: Answer petition on seat for solons at meetings". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved 2017-01-21.
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See also

References
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