JUSTICE Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Supreme Court Associate Justice Lucas P. Bersamin as the 25th Chief Justice.
Although he is not the most senior Associate Justice of the SC, Bersamin is considered the most senior among the candidates for the CJ post based on the length of service in the Judiciary.
Bersamin, who started as a judge at the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City on November 5, 1986, has been in the Judiciary for 32 years already.
He will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 on October 18, 2019.
Bersamin beat four other short-listed candidates in the top post, including Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, who served as the acting chief justice after Teresita Leonardo-de Castro vacated the post when she reached the mandatory retirement of 70.
Malacañang cited Bersamin’s seniority in the Judiciary branch as the reason for his appointment in the top SC post.
“Justice Bersamin is presently the most senior justice in the Supreme Court in terms of services rendered under the Judicial branch in various capacities. He served nearly 17 years as the presiding judge of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, over six years as associate justice at the Court of Appeals and close to 10 years as the 163rd magistrate of the Supreme Court,” Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a statement on Wednesday.
Duterte said earlier that, in appointing the chief justice, he will consider the seniority rule.
Although Bersamin is the most senior in the Judiciary branch, Carpio is the most senior in the SC itself.
Bersamin, appointed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the Supreme Court in April 2009, is set to retire on October 2019.
The new Chief Justice voted in favor of key High Court decisions, such as allowing the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani, martial law in Mindanao, the arrest of opposition Sen. Leila M. de Lima and the ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno on a quo warranto petition.
He also penned the decision acquitting Arroyo of plunder and has also voted to acquit former Senator Jinggoy Estrada of plunder.
Associate Justice Carandang
Meanwhile, Duterte has also named Rosmari D. Carandang as the new associate Justice at the Supreme Court, filling the post vacated by de Castro.
The Palace said Carandang has been Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals since March 2003. Prior to her stint at the appellate court, Carandang served as Presiding Judge of the Makati Regional Trial Court.
Carandang will reach the mandatory retirement age on January 9, 2022.
On the view in some quarters that Carpio being the most senior in the SC should be appointed Chief Justice, Bersamin said the issue of seniority should be left to the sound discretion of the President.
“I just stand on my own personal record. I think I served the longest in the Judiciary. I leave that to the President to make the decision what he meant by giving priority or preference to seniority and not second guess the President,” Bersamin said at a press briefing hours after the Palace announced his appointment.
Carpio was the one who administered the oath to Bersamin.
Bersamin is the first Chief Justice who graduated from the University of the East College of Law.
During his stint as a trial court judge, Bersamin became a recipient of the Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro Memorabilia Commission with the coveted distinction of having written the Best Decision in Civil Law and the Best Decision in Criminal Law, topping all RTC Judges in 1999. It was the only time that both awards were won by the same judge in the same year.
In 2002 Bersamin won the Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos Award as Outstanding RTC Judge of that year.
Before Arroyo appointed him as SC Associate Justice, Bersamin served as an associate justice of the Court of Appeals from 2003.
Bersamin vowed to look into the problems plaguing the Judiciary and come up measures to address them.
He reminded the public that he would only have 11 months to serve his term, thus he hoped the expectations on him would not be too high.
“If I raise the bar of expectations too high, I will really fall short of it given only 11 months,” Bersamin said.
“The Judiciary has many problems. People know about them and it is my purpose that during my 11-month period that I will be at the helm, I will try to find out these problems and try to address them the best way the SC can. It’s not the CJ that will solve these problems, it is the SC. That how the SC works,” he added. With Bernadette D. Nicolas
Image credits: Supreme Court PIO via CNN Philippines