Serious, nerve-wracking, and often technical – these are the usual words one could use to describe the Judicial and Bar Council’s (JBC) interviews.

However, retired judge Toribio Ilao was able to break the ice during the public interviews last Thursday, June 14, for the Supreme Court (SC) associate justice post.

Ilao plucked questions from what he called “the Twitter” and “Twitters.” Some even seemed to be taken straight from a teenager’s slam book or a fish bowl typically used in beauty pageants.

He asked Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Oscar Badelles why he grew a moustache. 

Badelles responded that he grew them when he was still in college to “distract” people from his “uneven eyes.”

“You look good,” Ilao said.

He even asked Badelles if he has vices.

“Do you drink?” Ilao asked.

“Occasionaly, your honor,” Badelles responded.

“Occasionaly, you mean, when there is an occasion?” Ilao joked.

Ilao went on to ask Badelles the beauty pageant cliché, “how are you different from the other applicants?”

However, Badelles remained humble. Too humble to even brag about any of his achievements.

 “I don’t see much difference Your Honor, considering I find my colleagues also to be equally qualified, if not better than me,” Badelles said.

 Meanwhile, he asked CA Associate Justice Manuel Barrios to describe himself in one word.

“God-fearing, God-loving,” Barrios said.

“That’s two, three words,” Ilao responded.

Ilao zeroed in on CA associate justice Amy Lazaro Javier‘s health, since her medical records revealed that she has some health issues.

Lazaro said she is “on a diet” to keep her cholesterol levels low.

“You are still young…Nothing is wrong with your heart?” Ilao asked.

“My heart is a young heart, Your Honor,” Javier replied. 

The inquiring judge is 70 years old. – Rappler.com