Carpio: I will decline any chief justice nominations

FILE: Carpio, who was one of the six justices who voted against the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida against Sereno last March, said he has to be “consistent” with his position that the quo warranto was an improper way to remove a sitting member of the court. (Photo by Center for Strategic & International Studies/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio on Wednesday, June 20, said he would not accept any nominations for him to be the next head of the judiciary, after the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed the ouster of former top magistrate Maria Lourdes Sereno.

“I look at this at two levels as head of the institution right now, although temporarily, I will have to implement the decision of the Court that there is a vacancy so we will open it for applications,” Carpio told ANC’s Headstart.

“On a personal level, because I voted against it, I don’t want to benefit from it so I will decline any nomination,” he added.

Carpio, who was one of the six justices who voted against the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida against Sereno last March, said he has to be “consistent” with his position that the quo warranto was an improper way to remove a sitting member of the court.

“I don’t want to benefit from the decision to which I disagreed. But I have to implement it (the SC’s ruling) because I’m the temporary head of the institution,” he said.

Carpio, who is set to retire in 2019, further said he does not “hanker any position” at this point.

According to the acting chief justice, if one declines a nomination, his or her name will not be included in the list that will be submitted to the President.

“The President has to choose from the list of nominees submitted by the JBC (Judicial and Bar Council), he cannot choose outside of the list,” he noted.

Under Section 4, Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, President Rodrigo Duterte will have 90 days to choose the next head of the High Tribunal.

Voting 8-6, the SC on Tuesday, June 19, denied with finality Sereno’s motion for reconsideration that sought the reversal of SC’s May 11 ruling that removed her as the country’s top magistrate.

Those dissenters were Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Francis Jardeleza, Samuel Martires, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes Jr., and Alexander Gesmundo.

Meanwhile, Carpio, along with Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Perlas Bernabe, Mariano Del Castillo, Marvic Leonen, and Benjamin Caguioa, voted in favor of Sereno’s petition.