PRESIDENT Duterte has appointed Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta as the new Chief Justice (CJ), the Supreme Court’s spokesman announced on Wednesday, days after his appointment was prematurely reported on, prompting Malacañang to adopt a steely silence.
Peralta is replacing retired Chief Justice Lucas P. Bersamin.
“We would just like to confirm that the 26th Chief Justice of the Philippines is Chief Justice Diosdado Madarang Peralta,” said Supreme Court Spokesman Brian Hosaka in a briefing on Wednesday afternoon.
Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea also confirmed Peralta’s appointment in a text message to reporters. Peralta’s appointment paper was dated October 23.
Along with Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Peralta got the top votes at seven from the Judicial and Bar Council in the shortlist they submitted to the President. Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr., meanwhile, got four votes.
Peralta is the third Presiding Justice of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan to be appointed the High Court. He was named as the 162nd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in January 2009.
He became Sandiganbayan’s Presiding Justice in 2008.
He was previously appointed Presiding Judge of Branch 95 of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.
A native of Laoag, Ilocos Norte, Peralta is an alumnus of the University of Santo Tomas-Faculty of Civil Law where he was a working student and graduated in 1979. He obtained his Economics degree from the Colegio de San Juan de Letran in October 1974.
Peralta penned the 2016 ruling upholding the legality of the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
He also voted in favor of the June 2019 ruling granting retroactively the expanded good conduct time allowance (GCTA) law, the legality of Senator Leila de Lima’s arrest, the martial-law declaration in Mindanao and the closure of Boracay for rehabilitation. Peralta also voted in favor of the ouster of former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Augurs well for judiciary
Malacañang expressed confidence that Peralta’s appointment will bode well for the Judiciary.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo has made many landmark decisions and, likewise, convicted the most number of accused involved in big-time drug cases and other serious crimes.
“CJ Peralta has served the Judiciary for more than three decades in various capacities: as a trial court judge, associate justice and presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan, and associate justice of the High Court,” Panelo said.
Panelo also said the Special Centennial Awards in the Field of Criminal Law
was conferred on Peralta by the Supreme Court and the Integrated Bar of the
Philippines (IBP) “for his credible and no-nonsense management and expeditious
disposal of heinous crimes and drug
cases…[which have] visibly strengthened the Philippine Criminal Justice System
and helped bolster and maintain respect, trust and confidence in our criminal
courts.”