Lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Monday questioned the Judicial and Bar Council’s requirement to test a judicial nominee’s psychological health, describing the requirement as “clearly unconstitutional”.
“The recent requirement that the aspirants for Chief Justice post should ‘undergo psychological testing’ is another violation of the constitution similar to the requirement of asking them to submit a waiver of their bank deposits,” said Macalintal in his news release.
Furthermore, he said that any future chief justice “should be the very first to know and vehemently object” to this alleged unconstitutional requirement.
The JBC-009 Rule 6 Section 2 states: “The applicant shall submit to psychological/psychiatric tests to be conducted by the Supreme Court Medical Clinic or by a psychologist and/or psychiatrist duly accredited by the Council.”
Macalintal went on to cite and compare the JBC prerequisite with a 1985 directive issued by then U.S. President Ronald Reagan which required polygraph or lie-detector testing of all federal employees, including his cabinet members, to combat espionage.
Then Secretary of State George Shultz took a stand against such directive and, according to The New York Times, said: “The minute in this Government I am told that I'm not trusted, is the day that I leave.”
According to the JBC website, there are psychological exams and psychiatric evaluations for lower court applicants scheduled on June 26-27, 2012. As of Monday, there are 65 candidates who applied for or recommended to be nominees for the chief justice post.