MANILA – Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo De Castro accepted the nomination as Supreme Court chief justice.
De Castro was automatically nominated for the post being one of the most senior justices in the high court along with Diosdado Peralta, Andres Reyes Jr., Lucas Bersamin, and Presbitero Velasco Jr.
In May Supreme Court justices voted to remove Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice, granting a quo warranto petition filed against her by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
The 69-year-old De Castro, a former presiding judge at the Sandiganbayan, was an appointee of former president and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2007.
De Castro was also nominated before for the Supreme Court top post following the impeachment of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Then President Benigno Aquino III appointed Sereno.
Peralta, Reyes and Bersamin also accepted their nomination.
Velasco has not yet expressed his acceptance as application period for aspirants to the seat of the chief magistrate closed on Thursday.
Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio turned down his nomination. He said he refuses to benefit from Sereno’s ouster, which he voted against.
De Castro, Peralta and Bersamin voted to oust Sereno as chief justice. They declined to inhibit themselves from the quo warranto case despite allegations of bias./PN
