Only 3 justices are in the running for Philippine chief justice, and they are Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe, Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo, and Associate Justice Ramon Paul Hernando.

“Only Justices Bernabe, Gesmundo, and Hernando completed the requirements for the application for the position of Chief Justice,” Supreme Court Spokesperson Brian Keith Hosaka told reporters on Monday, March 1.

No other person applied for chief justice, meaning only the 3 are considered applicants by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), Hosaka confirmed.

Associate Justices Marvic Leonen and Benjamin Caguioa, both Aquino appointees like Bernabe, did not push through with the application.

“No documents were received from Justices Leonen and Caguioa. I couldn’t speculate on the reason. Either not really interested or unable to complete and submit all the requirements on time,” said Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, a member of the JBC.

Bernabe, Leonen, Caguioa, Gesmundo, and Hernando are the 5 most senior justices and as such, they were automatically nominated to be chief justice. All 5 of them accepted their nominations, and were given until February 26 to submit all documents.

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta will step down on March 27, a year earlier than his mandatory retirement.

If Bernabe is appointed, she would serve until May 15, 2022. If it’s Gesmundo, he would be in the post until November 6, 2026, and if Hernando, he would be chief justice until August 27, 2036.

If President Rodrigo Duterte appoints Bernabe, he can still appoint her replacement as there is no ban on midnight appointments in the judiciary. (READ: By 2022, Supreme Court filled with Duterte appointees)

The public interviews of Bernabe, Gesmundo, and Hernando will take place on March 10, said Hosaka and Guevarra. This means that the earlier request to do away with public interviews was denied by the JBC.

There was a time in 2018 when the interviews for chief justice were not open to the public, the reason being that, they were already publicly interviewed when they applied for associate justice. There was also the factor of “improper” questions by some JBC members.

That only the 3 incumbent justices are applicants means there will be another vacancy soon in the Supreme Court, as someone would need to fill in the 15th slot when Peralta leaves.

How they voted in the past

An earlier analysis of key decisions done by Rappler showed Bernabe to be tough on politicians, as she penned the decision that abandoned the condonation doctrine which used to be the escape route of officials charged with corruption but who were reelected. 

Bernabe also penned the decision that declared the pork barrel unconstitutional.

But Bernabe is more unpredictable than her colleagues, as she also voted in favor of Arroyo’s plunder acquittal, but dissented in the bail grant of Juan Ponce Enrile.

It would be hard to compare Bernabe’s voting history with Gesmundo and Hernando, as the latter two were appointed by President Duterte only recently, in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Must Read

Mobile credit expands mass surveillance of ordinary Kenyans

Gesmundo and Hernando had voted consistently in favor of the Duterte administration in the interest cases decided so far in their terms.

Bernabe voted in favor of the Duterte administration in holding that the closure of Boracay was constitutional. She also voted, although only with the result, in favor of martial law in Mindanao. (Voting with the result means she didn’t agree with the doctrine but agreed with the outcome, which was to deny the petitions.)

Bernabe dissented to the quo warranto ouster of former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, and the upholding of drug charges against jailed opposition senator Leila de Lima. – Rappler.com