Candidates for next chief justice to undergo public interview

THE Judicial and Bar Council ( JBC) ordered on Friday the five candidates v ying for the position of the country’s next Chief Justice to undergo a public interview on August 16.

The JBC, in its first deliberation for the post on Friday, also set the deadline for accepting all the objections and recommendations for each candidate until August 10.

Bidding for the post of Chief Justice are Supreme Court ( SC) Justices Teresita LeonardoDe Castro, Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin, Andres Reyes Jr., and Tagum City, Davao del Norte Regional Trial Court Branch 1 Judge Virginia Tejano- Ang.

The SC Public Information Office ( PIO), in its Twitter account, said “Public interviews for all nominees for the post of Chief Justice on Aug 16, 9 a. m. onwards at the Division Hearing Room, SC New Building.”

Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, who did not apply for the post, will be the acting chairman of the JBC.

In the straw voting by the SC en banc, Bersamin got 10 votes, followed by De Castro and Peralta with nine votes each, and Reyes with two votes.

The top three choices of the en banc are expected to be carried on by Carpio to the JBC.

The post of Chief Justice became vacant after Maria Lourdes Aranal- Sereno was ousted by the SC en banc with a vote of 8 against 6 through

quowarranto proceedings.