Chief Justice Puno and the Eighth (additional notes as of 6pm)

         The vacancy in the position of the Chief Justice occurs offially today, Chief Justice Panganiban’s birthday.       

            My sources tell me Justice Puno has been appointed Chief Justice this afternoon and it will be announced tonight.       

             The shortlist was submitted by the JBC yesterday.  

                 Fast. That was real fast.

               (my comments later, after official announcement. thanks.)

additional notes:             

        With the appointment of the Chief Justice from the ranks of the justices, a new vacancy occurs. And maybe this was one of the reasons for the speed at which the new CJ was appointed. Justice Puno’s appointment was a foregone conclusion (and he is the most senior, too and one of the more scholarly except that the  public perception that may have resulted from his vote in the Sigaw case may have changed other people’s opinion of him, I don’t know); his appointment almost anti-climactic. Maybe one of the reasons for the speed was the need to have fill  up the eighth, and the President is thinking, the seventh and the eighth are hers, and all eight are hers. You think?