Screening body split on vote process for associate justices.

Byline: Ira P. Pedrasa

Members of a screening body for appointments to the Supreme Court are split on the voting process for the selection of new associate justices next year.

Some want disclosure of voting for transparency, while others say this will open the council to public pressure.

Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez, one of eight Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) members, rejected the transparency in voting proposed by civil society organizations.

"There is already sufficient transparency there, we vote according to our conscience... But whatever vote you do, it will never satisfy anyone," he said.

The JBC is mandated by the …