council to add more nominees on two Supreme Court vacancies. The council rejected the request. Arroyo then appointed someone from the list. The person then chosen by the president then becomes a member of the Judiciary, and is not anymore reviewed by the Commission on Appointments. This is to prevent politicking and horse-trading among political parties. Former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban said that the Council's principal objective is to attract the best and brightest to the judiciary and to make them remain there. Offices shortlisted Justices of the Supreme Court Justices of the Court of Appeals Justices of the Sandiganbayan Justices of the Court of Tax Appeals Officials in the Office of the Ombudsman Members of the Legal Education Board Judges in the Regional Trial Courts and all lower courts Members The members of the JBC were: Chief Justice The Chief Justice became a member starting on December 10, 1987. Secretaries of Justice The Secretary of Justice became a member starting on December 10, 1987. Representative from Congress Congress is a bicameral legislature. The representative from Congress is either Chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, or the House Committee on Justice. One representative Since the creation of the JBC in 1987 until 1994, the representation for Congress in the body alternated between the House of Representatives and the Senate. Two representatives, half a vote each By 1993, the two representatives from Congress began sitting simultaneously, each having one-half of a vote. Two representatives, one vote each On May 30, 2001, the JBC En Banc decided to grant the representatives from both Houses of Congress one full vote each. One representative In 2013, the eight-member composition of the JBC was questioned at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court restored the composition of the JBC to seven. It was arranged that the representative of the House of Representatives sits from January to June, while the representative of the Senate sits from July to December. Regular members Notes References See also Judicial nominating commission Professional Regulation Commission References Chan Robles Virtual Law Library: Article 8 External links Official website of the Judicial and Bar Council Official Gazette of The Philippines JBC Brifer Judiciary of the Philippines Congress of the Philippines Judicial nominations and appointments