Sen. Joker Arroyo said the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) erred in recommending the appointment of Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong to the Supreme Court without clearing the issue on his citizenship. “The JBC should clear the air on this matter,” Arroyo said, adding that the JBC “goofed in not taking that (citizenship issue) into account when it nominated Justice Ong for appointment to the Supreme Court.”

“It is the JBC’s responsibility, in the first instance to screen all candidates before it forwards its list of recommendations to the President,” Arroyo said in a statement. Arroyo said the JBC should have been meticulous in recommending nominees to the high court. He said if it is proven that Ong was not a natural-born Filipino, his appointment to the Sandiganbayan, where he has been serving for nine years now, could be deemed “irregular.”