Judicial and Bar Council


The Judicial and Bar Council 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.

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, while the Clerk of the Supreme Court shall serve as the ex officio secretary.
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. 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. Currently, there are two members of Congress in the council: the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Justice and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights. 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.
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

As a matter of tradition, the two 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.
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. 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.

Gallery

Members

The members of the JBC were:

Chief Justice

JBC ex officio ChairpersonsStart of TermEnd of TermAppointed by
Claudio Teehankee10 December 198712 April 1988Corazon Aquino
Pedro Yap20 April 198829 June 1988Corazon Aquino
Marcelo Fernan4 July 19885 December 1991Corazon Aquino
Andres Narvasa8 December 199130 November 1998Corazon Aquino
Hilario Davide, Jr.30 November 199819 December 2005Joseph Estrada
Artemio Panganiban20 December 20056 December 2006Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Reynato Puno7 December 200617 May 2010Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Renato Corona17 May 201029 May 2012Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Maria Lourdes Sereno24 August 201211 May 2018Benigno Aquino III
Teresita de Castro28 August 20188 October 2018Rodrigo Duterte
Lucas P. Bersamin28 November 201818 October 2019Rodrigo Duterte
Diosdado Peralta23 October 2019presentRodrigo Duterte

Secretaries of Justice

Secretaries of JusticeStart of TermEnd of TermAppointed by
Sedfrey Ordoñez10 December 198718 December 1989Corazon Aquino
Franklin Drilon8 January 19902 July 1992Corazon Aquino
Silvestre Bello III16 July 19913 February 1992Corazon Aquino
Eduardo Montenegro17 February 19921 June 1992Corazon Aquino
Franklin Drilon22 July 199214 December 1994Fidel V. Ramos
Demetrio Demetria18 January 199517 March 1995Fidel V. Ramos
Teofisto Guingona, Jr.24 May 199528 January 1998Fidel V. Ramos
Silvestre Bello III18 February 199830 June 1998Fidel V. Ramos
Serafin Cuevas1 July 199810 February 2000Joseph Estrada
Artemio Tuquero11 February 200020 January 2001Joseph Estrada
Hernando Perez23 January 200115 January 2003Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Simeon Datumanong22 January 2003December 2003Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Merceditas Gutierrez28 January 200431 August 2004Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Raul M. Gonzalez1 September 200430 May 2009Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Agnes Devanadera8 June 200928 February 2010Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Alberto Agra1 March 201030 June 2010Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Leila de Lima1 July 201012 October 2015Benigno Aquino III
Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa12 October 201522 January 2016Benigno Aquino III
Emmanuel Caparas22 January 201630 June 2016Benigno Aquino III
Vitaliano Aguirre II1 July 20164 April 2018Rodrigo Duterte
Menardo Guevarra5 April 2018presentRodrigo Duterte

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

Two representatives, half a vote each

By 1994, the two representatives from Congress began sitting simultaneously, each having one-half of a vote.
CongressmanStart of TermEnd of Term
Pablo P. Garcia26 August 19928 March 1995
Isidro Zarraga28 June 199530 June 1998
Alfredo Abueg31 July 199829 November 2000

SenatorStart of TermEnd of Term
Alberto Romulo14 April 19931 August 1995
Marcelo Fernan2 August 199531 December 1996
Raul Roco1 January 199730 July 1998
Renato Cayetano31 July 199831 January 2000
Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.1 February 200029 November 2000
Miriam Defensor Santiago10 January 200114 February 2001

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.
CongressmanStart of TermEnd of Term
Henry Lanot14 December 200030 June 2001
Alan Peter Cayetano8 August 20013 March 2003
Marcelino Libanan4 March 20038 August 2003
Simeon Datumanong9 August 200430 June 2007
Matias Defensor, Jr.8 August 200730 June 2010
Niel Tupas, Jr.29 July 201030 June 2013

SenatorStart of TermEnd of Term
Renato Cayetano16 May 200128 August 2001
Francis Pangilinan29 August 200123 November 2008
Francis Escudero24 November 200830 June 2013

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.
Congress representativeHouseStart of TermEnd of Term
Aquilino Pimentel IIISenate23 July 201331 December 2013
Niel Tupas, Jr.House of Representatives1 January 201430 June 2014
Aquilino Pimentel IIISenate1 July 201431 December 2014
Niel Tupas, Jr.House of Representatives1 January 201530 June 2015
Aquilino Pimentel IIISenate1 July 201531 December 2015
Niel Tupas, Jr.House of Representatives1 January 201630 June 2016
Leila de LimaSenate26 July 201619 September 2016
Richard J. GordonSenate29 September 201631 December 2016
Reynaldo UmaliHouse of Representatives1 January 201730 June 2017
Richard J. GordonSenate1 July 201731 December 2017
Reynaldo UmaliHouse of Representatives1 January 201830 June 2018
Richard J. GordonSenate1 July 201831 December 2018
Vicente Veloso IIIHouse of Representatives1 January 201930 June 2019
Richard J. GordonSenate1 July 201931 December 2019
Vicente Veloso IIIHouse of Representatives1 January 2020present

Retired member of the Supreme Court

Representative from the academe

Representative from the Integrated Bar

Representative from the private sector