SC hopefuls qualified — Guevarra

Any of the four magistrates who are candidates for Supreme Court chief justice can fill the shoes left by former CJ Maria Lourdes Sereno who was booted out of the high bench.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) reiterated this by saying: “Any one of the four SC justice nominees is capable of filling the position.”

Those who beat the 26 July submission of requirements for the vacant post are SC Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin and Andres Reyes, Jr.

Also seeking the post is Regional Trial Court (RTC) Executive Judge Virginia Tejano Ang of Tagum City in Davao del Norte.

Among the candidates, De Castro will be retiring this October. In case she is chosen, Guevarra said her possible length of service will not be an issue.

“It’s up to the President. If I were in Justice De Castro’s shoes, I will surely not mind,” he said.

De Castro, was appointed by former president and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She is the third most senior justice of the SC.