Lucas Bersamin named new Chief Justice

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin as the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Malacañang announced Wednesday, November 28.

Bersamin, the third most senior magistrate of the high tribunal, replaced Teresita De Castro, who retired on October 10 after serving as chief magistrate for less than two months following the ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Bersamin defeated acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio; and Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, and Andres Reyes Jr. who vied for the top magistrate post.

As associate justice, Bersamin voted in favor of Sereno's ouster, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos's burial at the Heroes' Cemetery in Taguig, and Duterte's declaration and extension of martial law in Mindanao, among others.

Sereno is the first woman to serve as Chief Justice and the first to be removed from office in May through quo warranto proceedings initiated by the Duterte's government top counsel, Solicitor General Jose Calida.

In August, Duterte said his decision to name De Castro as Sereno's replacement was based on the high court's seniority rule.

But in appointing Bersamin, the President bypassed the nomination of Carpio, the most senior justice in the Supreme Court.

On November 26, Malacañang said Duterte would "not necessarily" follow the seniority in the Supreme Court, when asked if Carpio, critical of the current administration's inactions in the South China Sea disputes, has the chance to become the next Chief Justice.

In a statement released Wednesday, November 28, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador said 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 (RTC), over six years as associate justice at the Court of Appeals (CA), and close to 10 years as the 163rd magistrate of the Supreme Court," the Palace official said.

The 69-year-old Bersamin, who hails from Abra, served as presiding judge of the Quezon City RTC Branch 96 in 1986, and was a CA associate justice in 2003 prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court in 2009.

Bersamin finished law at the University of the East in 1973, and placed ninth in the bar examinations in the same year.

He bagged the Judicial Excellence Award for Best Decision both in Civil Law and Criminal Law, which has remained an unprecedented defeat.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo also announced the appointment of CA Associate Justice Rosmari Carandang as the new Supreme Court associate justice.

Carandang has been an associate justice of the appellate court since March 2003. Prior to her stint at the CA, she served as the presiding judge of the Manila RTC.

Like Bersamin, Carandang claimed the ninth spot in the 1973 bar examinations.

Panelo was confident that Bersamin, dubbed by Duterte as "the best and brightest," and Carandang would join the rest of the Supreme Court justices "in remaining steadfast in its role as the guardian of the rule of law."

"We are confident that [Chief Justice] Bersamin and [Associate Justice] Carandang will continue to uphold judicial excellence, assert its independence and stand firm against erring members of the bench, the bar and court personnel as they lead the third branch of the government," the Palace official said. (SunStar Philippines)