CHIEF JUSTICE ARTEMIO V. Panganiban signed a comprehensive Cooperation Agreement with the President of the Spanish Supreme Court, Francisco Jose Hernando Santiago, in Madrid last June 30, conformably with the schedule set during Chief Justice Panganiban’s visit to Spain in May as part of his knowledge-sharing lecture tour.
     The salient features of the Agreement, which the Chief Justice is concluding on behalf of the Philippine Judicial Academy and the Judicial and Bar Council, include mutual cooperation and assistance concerning reforms in judicial education and appointments to the Judiciary. Panganiban’s counterpart in the Spanish Supreme Court is likewise the President of the General Council of the Judiciary which is the equivalent of our JBC. But unlike the JBC which can only recommend appointments to the Judiciary, the General Council is empowered to appoint judges directly. > MORE