All five candidates are on the shortlist for the next Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice, a member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) said on Friday.
According to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, ex-officio member of the JBC, the candidates on the list are
-Associate Justice Antonio Carpio,
-Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta,
-Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin,
-Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe and
-Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr.
Guevarra said that in a closed-door panel interview, Carpio, Peralta, Bersamin and Bernabe received six votes each from the JBC committee while Reyes got 5.
The list will then be submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte which will take 90 days from the vacancy to choose.
The JBC opened the nomination for the Chief Justice position last Sept. 29 and was closed on Oct. 26. Only nominations with a letter of acceptance from the nominees will be processed as per JBC rules.
The position became vacant after the mandatory retirement of Chief Justice Teresita de Castro last Oct. 10.
READ: JBC exec chief: Chief Justice nomination is officially closed