The Judicial and Bar Council will conduct a public interview with the four candidates vying for the most coveted post in the judiciary that will be left vacant when Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 on October 18.
In an advisory, the JBC said the interview for Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Jose Reyes Jr., Andres Reyes Jr. and Estela Perlas Bernabe will be held on October 2 at the Division Hearing Room of the SC main building in Manila.
The JBC, the body tasked by the Constitution to vet and screen applicants to the judiciary, said the public can send in their opposition to the applicants aspiring for chief justice post until September 17.
Peralta was appointed to the SC in 2009, Bernabe in 2011 and Reyes in 2017.
Peralta and Bernabe will compulsory retire on March 27, 2022 and on May 14, 2022, respectively, while Reyes’ compulsory retirement is on May 11, 2020.
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa and Marvic Leonen has declined the JBC’s automatic nomination for Bersamin’s post. Carpio is set to retire from the judiciary a week after Bersamin.
While Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza is the sixth most senior among the incumbent magistrates, he was not included in the automatic nomination because he is compulsory retiring on September 26.
The candidate who will replace Bersamin will be President Duterte’s third chief justice appointee, the first being Teresita Leonardo De Castro.
De Castro took the position after Maria Lourdes Sereno was removed through quo warranto proceedings filed by the Office of the Solicitor General.
Bersamin then took over the post after De Castro retired last year, after serving only for more than two months.
President Duterte has 90 days from October 18 within which to appoint the next chief magistrate.