Lawyers endorse Carpio’s nomination to Chief Justice post

A national organization of lawyers has endorsed the automatic nomination of acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio to the post left vacant by ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) President Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo said the IBP, through its Board of Governors, resolved to nominate the automatic nomination of Carpio as Chief Justice.

“We are faced with the reality that the Supreme Court itself has set into motion the appointment of Chief Justice vice Ma. Lourdes P. A. Sereno. We thus support the return to, and the recognition of the wisdom, of the long-standing tradition of seniority in the appointment to the highest office of the judiciary, the Supreme Court Chief Justice,” Fajardo said in a statement.

Carpio is the most senior among the Supreme Court Justices and by tradition, the five most senior justices of the high court are automatically nominated for the Chief Justice post.

Aside from Carpio, the other most senior justices include Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo De Castro, Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin.

Velasco and De Castro, however, will both reach the mandatory age of retirement this year, respectively.

Carpio’s nomination came although he already said he will decline any such nomination because he disagrees with the SC decision that led to Sereno’s ouster via a quo warranto petition.   /vvp

READ: Carpio on not being SC chief: ‘PH sovereignty is more important than any position’