Leonen declines nomination for Chief Justice

Marvic Leonen. PHOTO BY LYN RILLON

Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Marvic Leonen has declined the nomination for the vacant position of Chief Justice.

In a letter to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) on Thursday, Leonen said the next Chief Justice “should come from the five most senior incumbent justices.”

The position was vacated after Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was removed by virtue of a quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.

Leonen, currently the youngest Associate Justice of the high court, said it is a “rational policy based on past experience” that the next Chief Justice should be a senior incumbent Associate Justice.

“Having received a copy of the letter of retired Justice Raoul V. Victorino, nominating all the incumbent Justices for the position of Chief Justice, I respectfully decline the nomination,” Leonen said.

READ: Retired justice nominates all 14 SC justices for Chief Justice post

Victorino, a retired Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan and a former member of the JBC, submitted a letter to the council nominating all incumbent magistrates to the Chief Justice position.

“I defer to the five most senior members of the Court, in the order of their seniority,” Leonen also said.

The five most senior members of the SC are Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin.

Carpio has formally declined the nomination, while three justices—De Castro, Peralta and Bersamin—have accepted the nominations.  /kga