Supreme Court’s No. 5 justice to preside over JBC

The Supreme Court building in Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The fifth most senior justice of the Supreme Court shall chair the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) when it starts screening candidates for the position of Chief Justice on July 16.

Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta, 60, had opted not to accept the nomination for Chief Justice. The Supreme Court en banc tapped him to be the acting chair of the JBC because the acting Chief Justice, Antonio Carpio, was also a nominee and had to inhibit himself from the council’s proceedings.

Peralta told reporters he declined the nomination because Carpio and the three other magistrates more senior than him should be given preference.

“We will have a lively proceeding,” the justice said when asked about the JBC’s plan to make public, for the first time, the interviews of the candidates.

Under the JBC rules, the five most senior justices of the high court, including Peralta and Carpio, are considered automatic nominees to a vacancy in the post of chief justice. The other three senior justices, Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita Leonardo-De Castro and Arturo Brion, have accepted the nomination and could not also preside over the JBC.