Carpio to decline nominations for Chief Justice

Acting Chief Justice Antonio T. Carpio said yesterday he will decline all nominations for him to be the next Chief Justice.

In a television interview, Carpio said that since he voted against the removal of Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno as Chief Justice via a quo warranto petition, he has to be consistent with his stand.

"I have to be consistent with my position that the quo warranto is not a proper way to remove a sitting member of the court (Supreme Court). I don't want to benefit from the decision to which I disagreed. But I will have to implement it because I'm the temporary head of the institution," Carpio declared.

Last Tuesday, the High Court voting 8-6 declared final its May 11 decision that ousted Sereno as Chief Justice and head of the judiciary.

Carpio was one of the six justices who dissented from the majority decision.

When one declines his or her nomination to a post in the judiciary, the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) – the constitutionally mandated office that accepts, screens and nominates appointments to the judiciary – would not consider him or her as an applicant to the post.

By seniority and with the ouster of Sereno, the three most senior justices of the SC, including Carpio, are Justices Presbitero J. Velasco Jr. and Teresita J. Leonardo J. de Castro.

Velasco and De Castro are retiring in August and October respectively this year. With their retirement, the two other senior justices are Justices Diosdado M. Peralta and Lucas P. Bersamin.

Like Carpio, Bersamin will retire next year upon reaching 70, the mandatory age of retirement. Peralta, on the other hand, still has four years in the judiciary.

Traditionally, the top three SC justices are automatically qualified to the post of Chief Justice. But they have to be nominated by the JBC which is set to meet on Monday to tackle the vacancy in the Chief Justice post.

Under the Constitution, President Duterte has 90 days from June 19, the day Sereno’s ouster became final to appoint her replacement from the list that would be submitted by the JBC.

There is no prohibition in the Constitution for the President to appoint someone who is not a member of the Judiciary to the post of Chief Justice provided he or she is included in the list that would be submitted by the JBC.

Velasco vacancy Meanwhile, the SC has recommended to the JBC the nomination of three Court of Appeals (CA) associate justices and its court administrator to the post that would be vacated by Velasco.

The nominees include CA Associate Justice Rosmari Carandang (10 votes), Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez (eight votes), and CA Associate Justices Jose Reyes and Ramon Garcia with six votes each.

Aside from Carandang, Marquez, Reyes and Garcia, the other aspirants to the Velasco post are CA Associate Justices Ramon Bato, Ramon Hernando, Ramon Garcia, Oscar Badelles, Manuel Barrios, Apolinario Bruselas and Amy Lazaro-Javier, Davao City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Carlos Espero, and former Ateneo de Manila College of Law Dean Cesar Villanueva.

Justice Velasco graduated from the University of the Philippines in 1971 and placed sixth (89.85) in the bar examinations on the same year. He was a private law practitioner for 20 years before joining the government in 1995 as Justice Undersecretary. In 1998, he was appointed CA associate justice and later appointed court administrator in 2001. He was appointed Supreme court Associate Justice on March 31, 2006.