By Jeffrey Damicog
All justices of the Supreme Court (SC) have been nominated for the vacant chief justice post, said Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra
(TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Guevarra, ex officio vice chairperson of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), said retired Sandiganbayan Justice Raoul Victorino “nominated all sitting justices of the SC for the CJ position.”
So far, Guevarra said SC Associate Justice Andres Reyes accepted on Monday the nomination of Victorino.
Aside from Reyes, four of the five senior magistrates of the SC have accepted their automatic nomination for the vacant chief justice seat.
By tradition, senior magistrates of the SC are automatically nominated for the post of chief justice but will have to accept their automatic nomination before being included as a candidate.
Those who accepted their automatic nomination are Senior Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, and Estela Perlas-Bernabe.
Only Senior Associate Justice Mariano Del Castillo declined his automatic nomination among the five senior SC magistrates.
The JBC opened the application for the position of chief justice on October 1 due to the Oct. 10 retirement of Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro.
The JBC already announced that it has extended its Oct. 15 deadline for the submission of applications for the post up to Oct. 26.