Yt Framework

Senator Franklin Drilon has expressed appreciation for his nomination as the next head of the judiciary, but the lawmaker from Iloilo clarified he is not interested in the position vacated by impeached former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

”It’s more fun in the Senate," Drilon responded when asked by the media to comment on his nomination as the next chief magistrate of the Supreme Court.

Drilon said he would rather choose to finish his six-year mandate given to him by 15.8 million Filipinos who voted for him in the last 2010 elections than accepting the nomination.

”It’s a big honor to be nominated as the next chief justice because every lawyer is aspiring for it, but I would rather give priority to the mandate given to me as senator,” he stressed.

Drilon was one of the 20 senators who voted to convict Corona during the impeachment trial last month.
Aside from Drilon, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago has also been nominated as the next chief justice, but she said she would also turn it down due to her election as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

”It would be a big embarrassment if I would not push my election as judge of ICC which is better than chief justice and has higher salary,” Santiago said.
Santiago got the highest vote as the next judge of ICC last March, but she is still waiting when she would be called to assume her duty.
The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has already received more than 60 nominations for the vacant chief justice post.

Meanwhile, Drilon expressed disappointment over what he described as circus-lie process in choosing the next chief justice.
”My personal view is that I’m sad with the process that is taking place in choosing the chief justice. There is a nominated nurse and a dismissed judge. It has become a circus, absurd and even requiring a psychological examination,” Drilon said.

He said if psychological test would be mandatory, then “everybody in the government should also undergo the same examination.”
”I’m not blaming anyone but sometimes we overdo things. We should bear in mind that this is supposed to be a formal process. There must be a dignified process instead of being an American Idol process,” Drilon explained.

by: PNA