MANILA, Philippines–Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has declined his automatic nomination for the position of Chief Justice.
“I am declining because there are only eight days left from the vacancy to my compulsory retirement,” Carpio said.
Carpio is the most senior justice of the Supreme Court. He has been with the High Court since Oct. 26, 2001.
The senior magistrate is also an advocate of the country’s claims in the South China Sea and a critic of the Duterte administration’s foreign policy with China.
Aside from Carpio, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen also declined his automatic nomination.
Other Supreme Court justices who are automatically nominated to the post of Chief Justice are Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.
The post of Chief Justice becomes vacant with the compulsory retirement of Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin on Oct. 18. /muf
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