ConCom proposes three supreme courts

By Gillian M. Cortez
THE Consultative Committee to Review the 1987 Constitution (ConCom) has proposed three supreme courts under a federal system being pushed by the Duterte adminstration.
ConCom Senior Technical and Media Officer Conrado I. Generoso cited the three proposed high courts as follows: the Federal Supreme Court, the Federal Administrative Court, and the Federal Constitution Court. “The highest court of the land will no longer be just one, no longer just the Supreme court. There will be two more additional high courts to be created under the proposed federal constitution,” he said on Monday’s media briefing.
The Federal Supreme Court will consist of a chief justice and eight associate justices. The chief justice and two other justices will be appointed by the president. Three other associate justices will be appointed by Congress and the remaining three will be appointed by Federal Constitutional court.
Former chief justice and ConCom head Reynato S. Puno said the present system of presidential appointments in the judiciary “is too much politicized” and “proves to be a very unsatisfactory system.”
The Federal Supreme Court will have jurisdiction over cases involving federal branches and agencies, the federal government and federated regions.
They will also be tasked with reviewing judgments and orders by the lower courts, as well as with criminal cases in which the possible sentence is capital punishment or life imprisonment.
The Federal Constitutional Court will tackle legislative and constitutional matters. This court will consist of nine members: three law experts appointed by the president, three justices appointed by the Federal Administrative Court, and three appointed by Congress.
This court will also handle impeachment cases, as initiated by Congress as a whole. “Impeachment cases will no longer be tried in the Senate but it will be in the jurisdiction of the federal constitutional court,” Mr. Generoso said.
He added: “The impeachment process for all impeachable officials will become a joint jurisdiction of Congress and (the) judiciary. So hindi naman tatanggalin sa kongreso. Hati lang ang trabaho (So this won’t be taken out from Congress, but this will just be delegated).”
The third high court will be the Federal Administrative Court, which will also be made up of nine members: one presiding justice and eight other associates.
The presiding justice and two justices will be appointed by the president. Three justices will be appointed by the Federal Supreme Court and the last three will be appointed by Congress.
This court will be to review appeals and certiorari cases by quasi-judicial agencies.
Mr. Puno said there will be a “special court” on election cases involving the president, vice-president and members of the House of Representatives.” But he said “appointment of these members still hasn’t been discussed.”