3 SC magistrates accept Chief Justice nomination

FILE: Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta (left), Estela Perlas-Bernabe (middle) and Andres Reyes Jr., (right). (Photo courtesy: judiciary.gov.ph via PNA)

MANILA — Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta and Estela Perlas-Bernabe on Tuesday accepted their automatic nominations to the judiciary’s top post, which would be vacated by Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin upon his retirement on October 18, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra confirmed.

Peralta and Bernabe, both 67, are the third and fourth senior justices in the 15-member high tribunal.

Peralta was appointed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the high court in 2009. Bernabe was appointed by former President Benigno Aquino III in 2011.

While not one of the five most senior SC magistrates who are automatically nominated to the chief justice post, a third incumbent magistrate, Andres Reyes, 69, was nominated for the Chief Justice position.

“Justice Reyes was nominated by retired justices Jose Perez and Sesinando Villon,” Guevarra, an ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), said.

The two most senior SC magistrates, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and Associate Justice Mario Victor Leonen declined their automatic nominations.

Carpio is set to compulsorily retire from service on October 26.

Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa was also automatically nominated but likewise declined, Guevarra said.

Associate Justice Francis H. Jardeleza, the sixth most senior among the High Court justices, was not included in the nomination because he is compulsorily retiring on September 26.