MANILA – The next Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will come from the recommendation of the country’s legal bodies, according to President Rodrigo Duterte.
The post remains vacant after Maria Lourdes Sereno was ousted via a quo warranto petition that Solictor General Jose Calida filed.
In an 8-6 vote on June 19, the SC junked Sereno’s appeal to reverse the landmark ruling.
“I have to consult not only the justices themselves but also the law profession[als] – so it’s by IBP (Integrated Bar of the Philippines) and Philippine Constitutional Association and others. And I will consult here, Atty. Dela Cerna. ‘Yung sabi ko professor ko sa Criminal Law,” the President said during the 25th Annual National Convention of the Vice Mayors’ League of the Philippines in Bohol.
On June 26, the IBP nominated Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio to the position.
“We are faced with the reality that the Supreme Court itself has set into motion the appointment of Chief Justice vice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno. We thus support the return to, and the recognition of the wisdom, of the long-standing tradition of seniority in the appointment to the highest office of the judiciary, the Supreme Court Chief Justice,” said Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo, IBP national president.
Carpio is the most qualified to head the country’s judiciary, Fajardo added./PN
