Who will be the next chief justice of the SC?

It turns out that Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin is set to retire on October 18, and apparently four of his colleagues in the tribunal are vying for his seat. All four are associate justices. One of them is associate justice Diosdado Peralta who is due to retire on March 27, 2022. Peralta is the most senior in terms of SC experience among the four aspirants. He has been serving the SC for more than a decade. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed him to the SC on Jan. 13, 2009. Peralta, who hails from Ilocos Norte, started his career in government as an assistant city fiscal in Laoag City in 1987.

Another is associate justice Estela Perlas Bernabe who is set to retire on May 14, 2022. Bernabe hails from Plaridel, Bulacan. She graduated salutatorian from the Ateneo College of Law and passed the Bar in 1976. She practiced legal work for China Banking Corp., Paramount Finance Corp., and the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. from 1978 to 1993. In 1996, she was appointed as Metropolitan Trial Court Judge in Makati, then was appointed to the Makati Regional Trial Court in 2002. After four years, she became a justice of the appellate court. She figures a bit in Filipino legal history as she wrote the 2013 decision that held that the Priority Development Assistance Funds or congressional pork barrel as unconstitutional. I’ll surely push for her!

She is followed by associate justice Andres Reyes Jr. who is due to retire on May 11, 2020. Reyes is vying for the chief justice post for the second time. Duterte appointed him to the high court in July 2017. His profile on the SC website, says that Reyes served as a trial judge for 12 years, from 1987 to 1999. Before assuming the post at the high tribunal he worked as the presiding justice of the Court of Appeals and served the Metropolitan Trial Court in Makati City, the Regional Trial Court of Makati City, and the Regional Trial Court of San Mateo, Rizal.

The fourth justice in this list is associate justice Jose Reyes Jr. who is due to retire on September 18, 2020. Duterte appointed him to the Supreme Court in August 2018. Reyes, like Duterte, is a graduate of San Beda College. He hails from Tacloban City, Leyte. I’m writing this piece of information so that our readers would know who might be the next chief justice. At least we no longer have a Lourdes Sereno as an issue, which hounded the SC in the past. Let’s just hope that this time around, the president chooses the right person for the job of chief justice.

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I’ve been reading about that P1-billion finger pier of the Oriental Port and Allied Services Corp. (OPASCOR) located at the northern end of the Cebu International Port, which was formally blessed and inaugurated a few days ago. OPASCOR chief executive officer and chairman Tomas Riveral said that this new facility will address the need for more berthing and yard space in CIP and will increase its operational capacity. I totally agree with CEO Riveral that this finger port will greatly help increase the capacity of OPASCOR, which in the past had a very limited berthing space.

I learned that this project fell under a Build-Operate-Transfer scheme. OPASCOR will turn over complete ownership of the pier to the Cebu Port Authority after 15 years of operation. I also learned that at the end of the finger pier, a roll on/roll off ramp has also been constructed designed for ro/ro vessels or barges. This is to allow using barges as a viable alternative in transporting cargoes outside of CIP via the sea to avoid road congestion.

The finger pier is a 1.25-hectare facility, which will accommodate general cargo vessels carrying rice, steel, cement, salt, and other bulk cargoes bound for Cebu. The finger pier was constructed a year ago on September 2018. Established in 1990 by its workers-owners, OPASCOR has currently more than 700 employees and two subsidiaries; the Golden Continental Port Terminal Services, Inc. in Cagayan de Oro, and Diadem Terminal Maritime Services & Realty, Inc. in Cebu City. My good friend, and golfing buddy, the late Benjie Akol, helped make OPASCOR what it is today. Unfortunately he passed away last February.