Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin said Thursday President Rodrigo Duterte should appoint a successor with a high intelligence and emotional quotients.
Bersamin, who will retire when he reaches the age of 70 on Oct. 18, said if President Duterte asked him whom to choose among the four aspirants to replace him, he would pick someone who had more emotional intelligence.
The four candidates for the most coveted post in the judiciary are Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Jose Reyes Jr., Andres Reyes Jr. and Estela Perlas-Bernabe.
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio is no longer applying for the position since he is due to retire on Oct. 26—or eight days after Bersamin steps down.
“I have been very consistent in saying that when you consider the qualifications for Chief Justice, there should be more EQ,” Bersamin said.
He said it was already a given that the four aspirants to his position and the other magistrates had a high IQ, otherwise they would not have earned the respect of their colleagues.
“I presume all of these four have a high IQ, but if I were asked by the President whom to choose, I would choose the one who had more EQ than the others,” Bersamin said.
Today, Friday, the Judicial and Bar Council will choose at least three candidates will be included in the shortlist for the position of Chief Justice to be submitted to Duterte.
Bersamin served Chief Justice for 11 months and was the 25th Chief Justice.
He served as a judge of the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City from 1986 until he was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2003. He joined the high court as an associate justice in 2009, and was appointed Chief Justice by Duterte on Nov. 28, 2018.