Mariano del Castillo to lead screening of chief justice applicants

MANILA, Philippines —  Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo will lead the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) in screening aspirants for the top judicial post vacated by the retirement of Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro last week.

Del Castillo, the only senior magistrate who declined automatic nomination for the chief justice post, will sit as acting chair of JBC when it deliberates on the SC vacancy, JBC ex-officio member and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said yesterday.

“As a matter of practice, the most senior SC justice who did not apply for the chief justice post will preside over the deliberations on the chief justice position. Hence, Justice Del Castillo will preside over the JBC when the chief justice post will be taken up,” Guevarra said.

All four other senior SC justices – acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin and Estela Perlas-Bernabe – have accepted their automatic nomination for chief justice.

Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr., a junior magistrate, also accepted his nomination by retired Sandiganbayan Justice Raoul Victorino, which brings to five the number of candidates for chief justice as of yesterday.

It was Victorino who nominated all 13 incumbent justices of SC.

Last week, Del Castillo declined his nomination for chief justice, citing his retirement in July next year as reason.

“I foresee that, as chairperson of the 2018 Bar examinations, my work will extend to the months just prior to my retirement. That will leave me not much time to embark on notable projects that a chief justice will normally want to have an imprint on,” he explained.

The JBC, a seven-member council tasked to vet nominees in judicial posts, earlier extended the Oct. 15 deadline for nominations for the chief justice post to Oct. 26. 

The Constitution requires the chief justice, just like associate justices, to be a natural-born citizen, at least 40 years old, with experience as judge or in private law practice for at least 15 years and a person with proven competence, integrity, probity and independence.    

Duterte is expected to appoint over 10 members of the high court during his six-year term. So far, he has already appointed six justices – now Ombudsman Samuel Martires, Noel Tijam, Andres Reyes Jr., Alexander Gesmundo, Jose Reyes Jr. and Ramon Paul Hernando.