Davide urges JBC to reconsider Carpio’s decision to reject CJ nomination

Retired Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. has urged the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) not to consider the stand of acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio that he be excluded from the nominees to replace Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was ousted as chief justice via quo warranto proceedings.

Carpio, the most senior associate justice of the Supreme Court, was among the six justices who voted against the quo warranto. He maintained that the chief justice should be removed only by impeachment proceedings.

Earlier this month, he said he will decline any nominations to replace Sereno because he is against the manner in which she was ousted.

READ: Carpio to decline any nomination as next Chief Justice

Davide has urged Carpio to reconsider his stand.

“Delicadeza should no longer be invoked because the decision in the quo warranto case is final. It has become the law of the case. The vacancy is real and lawful. He was not responsible for its occurrence. Personal consideration must now yield to the demands of public interest and of the good of the service,” Davide said.

“He should not deprive the President to have the opportunity for a wider field of choice for the best for the Supreme Court in particular and the Judiciary and the people in general,” he added.

The retired chief magistrate added that the first five most senior justices of the Supreme Court, by tradition, are automatically nominated for the chief justice post.

“I pray that the JBC should not, in the highest interest of public service, give due course to the stand of Acting Chief Justice Carpio. It should consider him a nominee of good standing despite and in spite of such stand,” Davide said in his letter.

Earlier, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) had recommended the appointment of Carpio as head of the judiciary. It also asked President Rodrigo Duterte to uphold the seniority rule in the appointments in the judiciary.

READ: Lawyers endorse Carpio’s nomination to Chief Justice post

Based on seniority, the top five SC justices today are Acting Chief Justice Carpio and Justices Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., Teresita J. Leonardo de Castro, Diosdado M. Peralta, and Lucas P. Bersamin.

Velasco and De Castro will retire on August 7 and October 8, respectively, this year, when they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70. /ee

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