Duterte: Carpio not keen on being chief justice

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio was not appointed chief justice because President Duterte thought he was not interested in the position.

The President defended the appointment of Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin as the country’s new chief justice, saying he was “next in rank” after Carpio declined the nomination in the past.

"I did not pick anyone else aside from the five names that were given to me. Carpio, Peralta, Bersamin. I chose Bersamin," Duterte said in Cebuano during the groundbreaking of Panguil Bay bridge in Lanao del Norte on Wednesday.

"Carpio refused the offer. So the next in rank is… Next in rank if you’re good,” Duterte said of his appointment of Bersamin.

The President then took a swipe at Carpio for urging him to use the arbitration ruling to assert the country's rights in the West Philippine Sea.

He told the SC justice that the country would suffer defeat if the government uses force to deal with the issue.

"Just because you're a salutatorian, it does not mean a s*** to me. You keep on hankering that you’ll attack the – you do something. What do you want me to do?" he asked Carpio.

"Arbitration so I'll order my military and the police to go there in Palawan and shoot it out? It will be a massacre. We will not win there. We won’t get anything from it," he added.

Carpio previously criticized the government's alleged inaction on the reclamation and military buildup of China in the disputed South China Sea.

Bersamin replaced Teresita de Castro who retired last October.

The Palace considered Bersamin as the most senior justice in the Supreme Court in terms of services rendered in various capacities under the judiciary.