The announcement of the next Supreme Court chief justice may have to wait until after the Holy Week, or as soon as a judicial appointment has been formally received by the High Court, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Friday.
Presidential Legal Adviser Salvador Panelo, on the other hand, disclosed that Associate Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo is the personal choice of President Duterte to be the next chief justice of the Supreme Court.
“As a matter of SOP (standard operating procedure), judicial appointments are confirmed by my office only after they have been received by the Supreme Court. Given the long holiday, the earliest a judicial Appointment can be received by the Court would be this Monday. FYI,” Roque said in a statement Friday, April 2.
The vacancy in the Supreme Court’s top post came after the retirement of Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta on March 22, a position he held for almost one year and five months.
Malacañang, however, has yet to make a formal announcement and release the appointment paper of the next chief justice.
“As far as I know, he is his (President Duterte) personal choice,” Panelo said in a text message to the Manila Bulletin.
Gesmundo was appointed as an associate justice to the Supreme Court on August 14, 2017. Before that, he served as an associate justice of the Sandiganbayan in October 2005 where he served as chairperson of the anti-graft court’s 7th Division.
Aside from Gesmundo, two other justices are vying to become the next chief justice, namely Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando.