MANILA - Several Regional Trial Court (RTC) judges, along with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court (SC) to nullify and invalidate President Benigno Aquino III's recent appointment of two magistrates at the Sandiganbayan.

In a 27-page petition for quo warranto, certiorari and prohibition, petitioners Presiding Judge Philip Aguinaldo of Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 207, Presiding Judge Reynaldo Alhambra of Manila RTC Branch 53, Presiding Judge Danilo Cruz of Pasig City RTC Branch 152, Presiding Judge Benjamin Pozon of Makati City RTC Branch 139, Presiding Judge Salvador Timbang, Jr. of Las Piñas City RTC Branch 253, and the IBP accused Aquino of violating the 1987 Constitution (Section 9, Article VII) when he did not appoint anyone from the shortlist submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for the vacancy of the 16th Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan.

The President instead appointed respondents Michael Frederick Musngi and Ma. Geraldine Faith Econg to the anti-graft court when both were named in the same shortlist for the court's 21st vacancy.

Section 9, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution states, "The Members of the Supreme Court and judges of the lower courts shall be appointed by the President from a list of at least three nominees prepared by the [JBC] for every vacancy. Such appointments need no confirmation. For the lower courts, the President shall issue the appointments within ninety days from the submission of the list."

"The appointments made were not in accordance with the shortlists submitted by the [JBC] for each vacancy, thus affecting the order of seniority of the Associate Justices. The Constitution expressly provides that the judges of the lower courts shall be appointed by the President from a list of at least three nominees prepared by the JBC for every vacancy," the petition read.

Petitioners insist that the JBC has a clear mandate to recommend appointees to the Judiciary, with functions including searching, screening and selecting nominees to be recommended for appointment of members of the [SC] and the lower courts. They stressed that "the President's appointing authority is limited to only the names included in the shortlist submitted by the JBC for each vacancy."

Aquino did not nominate from the JBC shortlist of 6 nominees for the 16th Sandiganbayan Associate Justice post, and nominated both Econg and Musngi to the anti-graft court when they were both shortlisted by the JBC specifically for one vacancy: the 21st Associate Justice post.

Econg was former Presiding Judge of Cebu City RTC Branch 9 while Musngi was former Undersecretary of the Office of Special Concerns at the Office of the President.

"Petitioners respectfully submit that President Aquino's appointments for the vacancies for the 21st Associate Justices of the Sandiganbayan and his continuous failure to validly appoint the 16th vacancy violate the fundamental law of the land," the petition read.

Petitioners urged the high court to immediately issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent Econg and Musngi from performing their functions as Sandiganbayan magistrates.