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
Abbreviation	JBC
Purpose	Recommending appointees to the Judiciary
Location	Padre Faura Street, Ermita, Manila
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	Alexander Gesmundo
Parent organization	Supreme Court of the Philippines
Website	jbc.judiciary.gov.ph

History

The Supreme Court and other lower courts in the Philippines were established upon the basis of Act No .136 of 1901 of the Philippine Commission. This succeeded the Real Audiencas and lower courts during the Spanish era. At this time, the Supreme Court was appointed by the Philippine Commission. With the approval of the Jones Law in 1916, the justices of the Supreme Court were appointed by the President of the United States, with advice and consent of the United States Senate. Judges of lower courts were then appointed by the Governor-General.

Upon the ratification of the 1935 constitution, all justices and judges are appointed by the President of the Philippines with consent of the 21-member Commission on Appointments of the National Assembly of the Philippines. Upon the reestablishment of bicameralism, the Commission on Appointments then had equal number of members (12) from the House of Representatives and Senate. This became the setup until the approval of the 1973 constitution, where the president had the sole power of appointment, with no check and balance from the Batasang Pambansa. With the approval of the 1987 constitution, the Judicial and Bar Council was created to provide a shortlist of nominees on which the president can appoint from.

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 succeeding members shall then be given the full four-year term.

The Chief Justice is appointed by the president from the shortlist submitted by the JBC. The Secretary of Justice, as a member of the Cabinet, is appointed by the president with advice and consent of the Commission on Appointments. The member of Congress is elected by the chamber where the member came from.

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:

Member		Term started	Term scheduled to end	Representing		Type	Appointed by
1	Alexander Gesmundo	April 5, 2021	November 6, 2026	Chief Justice		Ex officio chairman	Rodrigo Duterte
2	Jesus Crispin Remulla	June 30, 2022	Serves at president's pleasure	Secretary of Justice		Ex officio member	Bongbong Marcos
3	Francis Tolentino	July 26, 2022	June 30, 2025	Congress	Senate		19th Congress
	Juliet Marie Ferrer*				House of Representatives
4	Franklin Demonteverde	August 2, 2019	July 9, 2023	Integrated Bar		Regular member	Rodrigo Duterte
5	Nesauro Firme	July 11, 2022^[6]	July 9, 2026	The academe			Bongbong Marcos
6	Jose Mendoza	October 4, 2017	July 9, 2025	Retired justice of the Supreme Court			Rodrigo Duterte
7	Toribio Ilao Jr.	October 26, 2016	July 9, 2024	The private sector			Rodrigo Duterte

• Ex officio secretary: Atty. Marife M. Lomibao- Cuevas, as Clerk of the Supreme Court en banc, since March 26, 2021

*Under the current arrangement, the congressman sits from January to June, while the senator sits from July to December. Only one representative is to sit at any time.

As a matter of tradition, the two most senior associate justices of the Supreme Court also take part in the JBC deliberations:

• Marvic Leonen (Senior Associate Justice)
• Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa (Associate Justice)

Function

 

Entrance to the JBC offices

The function of the Council is to recommend to the representatives of possible appointees to the Judiciary.^[7]

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.^[8] Arroyo then appointed someone from the list.^[9]

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.

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.

Offices shortlisted

• Justices of the Supreme Court
• Justices of the Court of Appeals
• Justices of the Sandiganbayan
• Justices of the Court of Tax Appeals
• Officials in the Office of the Ombudsman
• Members of the Legal Education Board
• Judges in the Regional Trial Courts and all lower courts

Members

 

The JBC members in the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Panel Interview

The members of the JBC were:^[10]

Chief Justice

Main article: Chief Justice of the Philippines

The Chief Justice became a member starting on December 10, 1987.

Secretaries of Justice

Main article: Secretary of Justice (Philippines)

The Secretary of Justice became a member starting on December 10, 1987.

Representative from Congress

Congress is a bicameral legislature. The representative from Congress is either Chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, or the House Committee on Justice.

One representative

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.

Member	Chamber	Start of term	End of term	Congress
Rogaciano Mercado	House of Representatives	December 10, 1987	February 23, 1989	8th
Wigberto Tañada	Senate	March 2, 1988	May 21, 1990	8th
Isidro Zarraga	House of Representatives	July 31, 1989	August 12, 1992	8th
				9th
Pablo P. Garcia		August 26, 1992	September 30, 1992	9th

Two representatives, half a vote each

By 1993, the two representatives from Congress began sitting simultaneously, each having one-half of a vote.

Congressman			Senator			Congress
Member	Start of term	End of term	Member	Start of term	End of term
Pablo P. Garcia	September 30, 1992	March 8, 1995	Raul Roco	September 30, 1992	March 3, 1993	9th
			Alberto Romulo	April 14, 1993	August 1, 1995	9th
Isidro Zarraga	June 28, 1995	June 30, 1998				10th
			Marcelo Fernan	August 2, 1995	December 31, 1996	10th
			Raul Roco	January 1, 1997	July 30, 1998	10th
						11th
Alfredo Abueg	July 31, 1998	November 29, 2000	Rene Cayetano	July 31, 1998	January 31, 2000	11th
			Aquilino Pimentel Jr.	February 1, 2000	November 29, 2000	11th
Henry Lanot	December 14, 2000	May 30, 2001	Miriam Defensor Santiago	January 10, 2001	February 14, 2001	11th
			Rene Cayetano	May 16, 2001	May 30, 2001	11th

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.

Congressman			Senator			Congress
Member	Start of term	End of term	Member	Start of term	End of term
Henry Lanot	May 30, 2001	June 30, 2001	Rene Cayetano	May 30, 2001	August 28, 2001	11th
Alan Peter Cayetano	August 8, 2001	March 3, 2003				12th
			Francis Pangilinan	August 29, 2001	November 23, 2008	12th
Marcelino Libanan	March 4, 2003	August 8, 2003				12th
Simeon Datumanong	August 9, 2004	June 30, 2007				13th
Matias Defensor Jr.	August 8, 2007	June 30, 2010				14th
			Francis Escudero	November 24, 2008	June 30, 2013
Niel Tupas Jr.	July 29, 2010	June 30, 2013				15th

One representative

In 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.^[11]

Member	Chamber	Start of term	End of term	Congress
Koko Pimentel	Senate	July 23, 2013	December 31, 2013	16th
Niel Tupas Jr.	House of Representatives	January 1, 2014	June 30, 2014
Koko Pimentel	Senate	July 1, 2014	December 31, 2014
Niel Tupas Jr.	House of Representatives	January 1, 2015	June 30, 2015
Koko Pimentel	Senate	July 1, 2015	December 31, 2015
Niel Tupas Jr.	House of Representatives	January 1, 2016	June 30, 2016
Leila de Lima	Senate	July 26, 2016	September 19, 2016	17th
Dick Gordon		September 29, 2016	December 31, 2016
Reynaldo Umali	House of Representatives	January 1, 2017	June 30, 2017
Dick Gordon	Senate	July 1, 2017	December 31, 2017
Reynaldo Umali	House of Representatives	January 1, 2018	June 30, 2018
Dick Gordon	Senate	July 1, 2018	December 31, 2018
Paulino Salvador Leachon	House of Representatives	January 1, 2019	June 30, 2019
Dick Gordon	Senate	July 22, 2019	December 31, 2019	18th
Vicente Veloso III	House of Representatives	January 1, 2020	June 30, 2020
Dick Gordon	Senate	July 1, 2020	December 31, 2020
Vicente Veloso III	House of Representatives	January 1, 2021	June 30, 2021
Dick Gordon	Senate	July 1, 2021	December 31, 2021
Vicente Veloso III	House of Representatives	January 1, 2022	June 30, 2022
Francis Tolentino*	Senate	July 25, 2022	Ends December 31, 2022	19th
Juliet Ferrer*	House of Representatives	Starts January 1, 2023	Ends June 30, 2023

Regular members

Term started	Representative from the Integrated Bar	Representative from the academe	Retired Supreme Court justice	Representative from the private sector	Appointed by
December 10, 1987	Vacant December 10, 1987 – June 17, 1988, Leon Garcia Jr. June 17, 1988 – July 9, 1991	Rodolfo Palma December 10, 1987 – July 9, 1990	Nestor Alampay December 10, 1987 – December 10, 1989	Ofelia Santos December 10, 1987 – December 10, 1988	Corazon Aquino
December 10, 1988				Ofelia Santos December 10, 1988 – July 9, 1992
December 10, 1989			Vacant December 10, 1989 – January 8, 1990 Lorenzo Relova January 8, 1990 – July 9. 1993
July 9, 1990		Rodolfo Palma July 9, 1990 – July 9, 1994
July 9, 1991	Vacant July 9, 1991 – January 7, 1993 Presbitero Velasco Jr. January 7, 1993 – March 22, 1995, Vacant March 22, 1995 – July 9, 1995
July 9, 1992				Vacant July 9 – September 30, 1992, Teresita Cruz Sison September 30, 1992– July 9, 1996	Fidel V. Ramos
July 9, 1993			Vacant July 9 – September 22, 1993 Jose C. Campos September 22, 1993 – July 9. 1997
July 9, 1994		Vacant July 9, 1994 – February 8, 1995, Cezar Peralejo February 8, 1995 – July 9, 1998
July 9, 1995	Vacant July 9 – August 1, 1995, Francisco Santiago August 1, 1995 – July 9, 1996, Amado Dimayuga July 9, 1996 – July 9, 1999
July 9, 1996				Vacant July 9, 1996 – July 9, 1997, Teresita Cruz Sison July 9. 1997 – July 9, 2000
July 9, 1997			Vacant July 9 – November 24, 1997 Regino C. Hermosisima Jr. November 24, 1997 – July 9. 2001
July 9, 1998		Vacant July 9–21, 1998 Alfredo Marigomen July 21, 1998 – July 9, 2002			Joseph Estrada
July 9, 1999	Amado Dimayuga July 9, 1999 – July 9, 2003
July 9, 2000				Vacant July 9 – August 18, 2000, Teresita Cruz Sison August 18, 2000 – July 9, 2004
July 9, 2001			Vacant July 9 – September 10, 2001 Regino C. Hermosisima Jr. September 10, 2001 – July 9, 2005		Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
July 9, 2002		Vacant July 9, 2002 – July 9, 2003, Amado Dimayuga July 9, 2003 – July 9, 2006
July 9, 2003	Conrado Castro July 9, 2003 – July 9, 2007
July 9, 2004				Vacant July 9, 2004 – July 12, 2005, Raoul Victorino July 12, 2005 – July 9, 2008
July 9, 2005			Vacant July 9 – October 4, 2005 Regino C. Hermosisima Jr. October 4, 2005 – July 9. 2009
July 9, 2006		Amado Dimayuga July 9, 2006 – July 9, 2010
July 9, 2007	Conrado Castro July 9, 2007 – March 17, 2011 Vacant March 17 – May 2, 2011, Maria Milagros Fernan-Cayosa May 2 – July 9, 2011
July 9, 2008				Vacant July 9 – October 13, 2008, Aurora Santiago Lagman October 13, 2008 – July 9, 2012
July 9, 2009			Regino C. Hermosisima Jr. July 9, 2009 – July 9. 2013
July 9, 2010		Vacant July 9, 2010 – April 28, 2011, Jose Mejia April 28, 2011 – July 9, 2014			Benigno Aquino III
July 9, 2011	Maria Milagros Fernan-Cayosa July 9, 2011 – July 9, 2015
July 9, 2012				Aurora Santiago Lagman July 9, 2012 – July 9, 2016
July 9, 2013			Vacant July 9, 2013 – October 8, 2014 Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez October 8, 2014 – July 9. 2017
July 9, 2014		Jose Mejia July 9, 2014 – July 9, 2018
July 9, 2015	Maria Milagros Fernan-Cayosa July 9, 2015 – July 9, 2019
July 9, 2016				Vacant July 9 – October 24, 2016, Toribio Ilao Jr. October 24, 2016 – July 9, 2020	Rodrigo Duterte
July 9, 2017			Vacant July 9 – October 4, 2017 Jose C. Mendoza October 4, 2017 – July 9. 2021
July 9, 2018		Vacant July 9, 2018 – March 6, 2019 Noel Tijam March 6, 2019 – July 9, 2022
July 9, 2019	Franklin Demonteverde July 9, 2019 – present
July 9, 2020				Toribio Ilao Jr. July 9, 2020 – present
July 9, 2021			Vacant July 9–20, 2021 Jose C. Mendoza July 20, 2021 – present
July 9, 2022		Vacant July 9–11, 2022 Nesauro Firme July 11, 2022 – present			Bongbong Marcos

Notes

References

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. July 3, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
5. Punay, Edu (July 3, 2012). "Only one member from Congress in JBC, SC affirms". Philippine Star. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
6. Canlas, Jomar (August 3, 2022). "Marcos appoints former lawyer to JBC". The Manila Times. Retrieved August 12, 2022.
7. 1987 Constitution, Article VIII, Section 8, Paragraph 5
8. Sy, Marvin; Punay, Edu (August 4, 2009). "JBC rejects Palace demand for more nominees to Supreme Court". philstar.com. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
9. Sy, Marvin. "Malacañang bows to JBC, will review Supreme Court shortlist". philstar.com. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
10. . Supreme Court of the Philippines. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
11. Torres-Tupas, Tetch (January 17, 2017). "SC to JBC: Answer petition on seat for solons at meetings". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved January 21, 2017.

See also

• Judicial nominating commission
• Professional Regulation Commission

References

• Chan Robles Virtual Law Library: Article 8
• Atty. Rita Linda V. Jimeno. "Attracting the best and the brightest". Retrieved August 8, 2006.

External links

• Official website of the Judicial and Bar Council
• Official Gazette of The Philippines JBC Brifer