PHILSTAR FILE PHOTO

THE Philippines’ Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) will conduct public interviews from May 14 to 21 to screen 18 candidates vying for a Supreme Court (SC) associate justice position ahead of the compulsory retirement of Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez on June 4.

Interviews will take place at either the SC En Banc Session Hall or the Court of Appeals Session Hall, the JBC said in a statement on Tuesday.

The process is part of the council’s constitutional mandate to recommend nominees to the country’s highest court.

A total of 18 candidates will face the JBC panel over four days of hearings. Among those scheduled to appear are legal luminaries from both the bench and the bar, including Court of Appeals justices, government legal officers, and prominent private practitioners.

The JBC is composed of representatives from the judiciary, Congress, the legal profession, the academe, and the private sector.

Its shortlist will be submitted to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., who will make the final appointment. Mr. Lopez’s replacement will be Mr. Marcos’s first appointee in the high court since becoming president in 2022.

Official recordings will be made available on the SC’s YouTube channel by the end of each day.

Mr. Lopez, who will retire upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70, was appointed to the high court in 2019. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana

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