I’m too young to be Chief Justice -- Santiago Juliet Labog-Javellana Inquirer
November 14, 2006
WILL IT BE Chief Justice Reynato Puno?
The possibility arose after Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, in a talk with reporters yesterday, said she had gotten signals from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that she might not be the successor of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban who is retiring on Dec. 7.
While saying she has not given up on her nomination, Santiago said she was at any rate “too young to become Chief Justice” -- for now.
“I heard that Ms Arroyo was “grappling with the problem of alienating me if she appoints somebody else,” said Santiago, who earlier intimated that she wanted to make history by becoming the country’s first woman Chief Justice.
“She and I already have an understanding about it. I understand that she had a few sleepless nights over it and I reassured her that I will respect her decision. I will not turn opposition just because she does not appoint me. I will continue as her ally in the legislature even if she does not appoint me,” Santiago said.
“And in fact... it led me to the conclusion that I might be too young to become Chief Justice because the chief leads a highly monastic life and I would have nine years (to serve if appointed now).
A Chief Justice can serve up to the retirement age in the judiciary of 70.
Asked if she was closing the door to the post of Chief Justice, Santiago said: “No, because if it will be Justice Puno, he will be retiring in 2009.”
The feisty senator earlier said she would not withdraw her nomination because she wanted to challenge the position of some justices that only insiders could be appointed Chief Justice.
Sources said an emissary of Ms Arroyo had sent word to Santiago that she did not want to turn down the senator’s nomination since she was a close ally and had promised to appoint her if she was nominated by the Judicial and Bar Council.
Santiago told reporters earlier that her nomination could not have been a surprise to Ms Arroyo because the two of them talked about it even before the 2004 elections, when Santiago ran under the administration K4 Coalition.
The President also felt that Santiago was “eminently qualified” having served as a clerk to Justice Vicente Abad Santos and later as a Quezon City regional trial court judge, according to the sources.
Santiago would only be 64 when Puno retires in 2009, leaving her a good six years to serve in the high tribunal before retirement age.
Ms Arroyo’s term expires in 2010.
Puno is the most senior of the justices. He is even more senior than Panganiban.
Aside from Puno and Santiago, other contenders for the post are Senior Associate Justices Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez and Antonio Carpio.
The JBC, which screens nominations to the judiciary, met yesterday but not to tackle the six nominations. Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, ex-officio member of the JBC, said they discussed nominations to first-level courts and would tackle the candidates for Chief Justice in their next meeting on Nov. 20.
