Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio did not get the top post of the Supreme Court because President Duterte thought he was not interested in the post.
The President has defended the appointment Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin as the country’s new Chief Justice, saying he was “next in rank” after Carpio declined the nomination in the past.
“I did not pick anyone else aside from the five names that were given to me. Carpio, Peralta, Bersamin. I chose Bersamin,” Duterte said in Bisaya during the groundbreaking of Panguil Bay bridge in Lanao del Norte Wednesday.
“Carpio refused the offer. So the next in rank is… Next in rank if you’re good,” Duterte said about his appointment of Bersamin.
The President then took a swipe at Carpio for urging him to use the arbitration ruling to assert the country’s rights in the West Philippine Sea. He told the SC justice that the country would suffer defeat if the government use force to deal with the issue.
“Just because you’re a salutatorian, it does not mean a s*** to me. You keep on hankering that you’ll attack the — you do something. What do you want me to do?” he asked Carpio.
“Arbitration so I’ll order my military and the police to go there in Palawan and shoot it out? It will be a massacre. We will not win there. We won’t get anything from it,” he added.
Carpio previously criticized the government’s alleged inaction on the reclamation and military buildup of China in the disputed South China Sea.
The President recently appointed Bersamin as the new chief of the Supreme Court, filling the vacancy left by Teresita de Castro who retired last October. The Palace considered Bersamin as the most senior justice in the Supreme Court in terms of services rendered in various capacities under the judiciary.
Bersamin beat four other contenders for the top SC post, including Carpio.
Carpio previously declined the nomination chief justice following his dissenting vote on the removal of then Chief Justice Sereno via a quo warranto petition. At the time, Duterte chose De Castro who served as Chief Justice for less than two months.
After De Castro’s appointment, Carpio found no more reason to decline the nomination. He has served in the Supreme Court since his appointment by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Bersamin and Carpio will retire in October 2019. (Genalyn Kabiling)
