Bersamin tops shortlist for CJ post

Justices of the Supreme Court (SC) prefer the next chief justice to be chosen from among their four colleagues nominated for the top judicial post.

In session yesterday, the SC magistrates came up with

their own shortlist of nominees for the post vacated by ousted chief justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

The list will be submitted as a recommendation to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

It included the names of all four SC justices nominated for the post – Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin and Andres Reyes Jr. – who inhibited from the voting.

Bersamin topped the list after garnering the unanimous votes of the 10 other justices. De Castro and Peralta got nine votes each while Reyes got two.

The high court did not recommend the nomination of JBC for Judge Virginia Tejano-Ang of Tagum City Regional Trial Court in Davao del Norte, the fifth aspirant for the chief justice post.

This means that none of the SC justices wants an outsider appointed as chief justice.

The SC traditionally submits to the JBC its recommendation for vacancies in the high court.

This practice was stopped during the term of Sereno.

The JBC, the seven-member council tasked to vet nominees for judicial posts, will start deliberations on the chief justice post on Friday.

JBC ex-officio vice chair and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra earlier said any one of the four magistrates vying for the post is qualified for the job.

The JBC started the search for Sereno’s replacement on June 25, a week after the high court made final its decision ousting her from the top judicial post on June 19.

The 1987 Constitution requires that the chief justice position be filled within 90 days from vacancy.

This means President Duterte needs to appoint Sereno’s replacement by Sept. 16.

Martires retirement OK’d

Meanwhile, the SC has approved the early retirement from the judiciary of Associate Justice Samuel Martires, who has been appointed ombudsman.

Voting unanimously, the SC justices allowed Martires to avail himself of optional retirement.

Martires is supposed to retire in January next year, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age in the judiciary of 70.

But since he has been appointed ombudsman replacing Conchita Carpio-Morales, he would have to retire early.

Martires, who is President Duterte’s first appointee to the SC, will take his oath at the Palace today.

In his last flag-raising ceremony at the SC on Monday, Martires vowed to look into allegations of corruption and address inordinate delays at the anti-graft agency.

He vowed to look into the allegation of lawyer and ombudsman-aspirant Edna Herrera-Batacan, who told the JBC that she had to pay ombudsman officials “parking fees” to keep a case on hold.

Martires said he would demand Batacan identify the officer or employee whom she claimed she gave money to as parking fee.

Keeping a case on hold results in inordinate delay during the preliminary investigation, which is one of the causes for dismissal at the Sandiganbayan.

Batacan, former legal counsel of Duterte, said she was a “victim” of corruption at the antigraft agency. She said she had to pay P50,000 to be informed of the status of a case against one of her clients.