Member Article

On March 19, 2004 the new "majority's opinion" subscribed by the following members of parliament Donald Lacayo, Luis Benavides, Damicis Syria, Noel Pereira, Gabriel Creek, and Delia Arellano, on the controversial Law of Judicial Career was filed before the National Assembly. The majority's new opinion differs from the projects discussed previously in some respects that were considered unconstitutional, but maintains the general outline of the project sent by the Presidency of the Republic on February 3 of the current year. We appreciate the first difference in article 3 of the "majority's opinion", since it excludes the Public Defenders from the judicial career and includes the Magistrates of Courts of Appeals as civil employees of the judicial career. The "majority's opinion" considers Public Defenders, Registers of Real Estate, and Forensic doctors in the same professional category called "Personnel Assistant of the Justice Administration" subjected to the access regime, rights, duties, conflict of interests, permissions, transfers, and others as established in the Judicial Career Law. This same article 3 settles down that Secretaries, Local and District Judges, will remain in their position up to six months after the promulgation of the law and form this moment the National Council of Judicial Administration will offer these vacancies in public competition; in the case of Magistrates of Courts of Appeals, the vacancies will be offered as they appear. With regards to the controversial "National Council of Judicial Administration", the original project is modified suppressing the administrative and financial autonomy and the administrative and financial functions, maintaining attributions relating to income and functions of disciplinary nature. Article 13 of "majority's opinion" regulates the official announcement and article 15 deals with the possibility of citizens objection to the participation of any person in this public competition. Article 19 of the opinion establishes how the five examining members are elected among fifteen persons previously selected by the Council, maintaining the secret character of the court, which is contrary to the principle of disclosure.