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JUDICIARY | SUPREME COURT

From the Court of Appeals, cases can still be appealed to the SUPREME COURT (SC). This is where the buck stops. Once the SC hands down its decision or resolution, it will allow only one more appeal for review of the case.
Cases in which the defendant receives a life term or the death penalty automatically go to the SC for review. Questions on the validity or constitutionality of any treaty, law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation are also deliberated upon by the high court, as well as those on the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, or toll imposed through these measures. The SC can also order a change of venue or place of trial to avoid a miscarriage of justice.
Composed of the chief justice and 14 associate justices, the SC may sit en banc or in divisions of three, five, or seven members. At present, it has three divisions with five members each. When a case is assigned to a justice, he or she becomes the ponente, or the writer of the majority's decision or resolution. A justice who votes against the majority may issue his own dissenting opinion and attach it to the decision.
The SC exercises administrative supervision over all courts and their personnel. The court en banc has the power to discipline judges of lower courts, or order their dismissal by a vote of a majority of the members who actually took part in the deliberations on the issues in the case and voted thereon.
Powers of the Supreme Court

To exercise original jurisdiction over cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, and over petitions for certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, and habeas corpus

To review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal of certiorari final judgments and order of lower courts in:

All cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any treaty, international or executive agreement, law, presidential decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation is in question

All cases involving the legality of any tax, impost, assessment, or toll, or any penalty imposed in relation thereto

All cases in which the jurisdiction of the lower court is in issue

All criminal cases in which the penalty imposed is reclusion perpetua or higher

All cases in which only an error or question of law is involved

To assign temporarily judges of lower courts to other stations for a period not exceeding six months and with the consent of the judge concerned

To order a change of venue or place of trial to avoid a miscarriage of justice

To promulgate rules concerning the protection and enforcement of constitutional rights, pleading, practice, and procedure in all courts, the admission to the practice of law, the Integrated Bar, and legal assistance to the underprivileged

To appoint all officials and employees of the judiciary in accordance with the Civil Service Law

To have administrative supervision over all courts and their personnel

To be the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualifications of the President or Vice President

To review the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus

Who can be appointed judge?

All courts: A natural-born Filipino citizen; a member of the Philippine bar; a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence. They hold office until they reach 70 years old or become incapacitated to discharge the duties of their office.

Supreme Court: At least 40 years old and has been for 15 years or more a judge of a lower court or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines.

The Judicial and Bar Council recommends appointees to the Judiciary. It submits to the President a list of at least three nominees for every vacancy. The appointments need no confirmation. The council is composed of the chief justice as ex officio chairman, the justice secretary and a representative of Congress 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.

Justice to the Highest Bidder
by Sheila S. Coronel

ABRAHAM Sarmiento did not think so. But in 1991, when he was still a justice of the Supreme Court, an attorney on his staff was invited to lunch by a former law school classmate, Danilo Gutierrez, whose father Hugo was then a member of the high tribunal.
The lunch took place at a well-known seafood restaurant, and in the course of the meal, Sarmiento's assistant was asked whether P3 million was enough to sway her boss, who had been assigned to write the decision on the Banco Filipino case. The insolvent bank had been closed by the Central Bank (CB) in 1985, and it was contesting the closure in the high court, accusing then CB Governor Jose Fernandez of wanting to take over the bank himself.

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