The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) will interview five aspirants for the position of Chief Justice, which will be vacated on 6 November upon the compulsory retirement of Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo at age 70.
Those who have applied for the position are Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen and SC Associate Justices Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, Rodil V. Zalameda, Japar B. Dimaampao and Jose Midas P. Marquez.
The JBC will begin public interviews of the aspirants on Thursday, 22 October.
Leonen and Caguioa will be interviewed at the SC’s session hall on 22 October, while Zalameda, Dimaampao and Marquez will be interviewed on Monday, 26 October.
The JBC said “the public may submit a sworn complaint, report, or opposition against any of the candidates through mail to the JBC, 2nd floor of SC-CA building on Maria Orosa Street, Ermita, Manila, Padre Faura Street or personal submission in three legible copies, or by electronic mail to jbc@judiciary.gov.ph not later than 4:30 p.m. on 27 Oct. 2026.”
Leonen was appointed to the SC on 21 November 2012; Caguioa on January 22, 2016; Zalameda on August 6, 2019; Dimaampao on 2 July 2021; and Marquez on 16 November 2021.
Under Section 7, Article VIII of the Constitution, a member of the SC, including the Chief Justice, must be a natural-born citizen, at least 40 years old, and have served as a lower court judge or practiced law in the Philippines for 15 years or more. He or she must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence.
The JBC, the constitutional body that accepts, screens and nominates candidates for appointments to the judiciary, the Office of the Ombudsman and its deputies, and the Legal Education Board, is mandated to submit at least three nominees to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for appointment.
The JBC earlier completed its public interviews of 19 applicants for the position of SC associate justice, which will be vacated on November 16 upon the mandatory retirement of Associate Justice Amy C. Lazaro-Javier.
Court of Appeals (CA) Presiding Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Geraldine Faith A. Econg and Solicitor General Darlene Marie B. Berberabe were among the applicants.
Aside from Presiding Justice Peralta, the other applicants from the CA are Associate Justices Lily Villareal Biton, Nina Geluz Antonio-Valenzuela, Ramon Marino Bato Jr., Ramon Alcala Cruz, Maria Elisa Sempio Diy, Myra Virtucio Garcia-Fernandez, Rolando Roberto B. Martin and Walter S. Ong.
The other applicants are Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Karl B. Miranda, Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) Associate Justice Maria Rowena M. San Pedro, Aldwin Flora Alegre of the Bureau of Immigration, Jason Rueda Barlis of the Legal Education Board, Gamaliel Asis Cordoba of the Commission on Audit, Solomon Mateo Hermosura of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, German Quintos Lichauco II and Ernesto Perez Maceda Jr. of the Commission on Elections.
Associate Justice Lazaro-Javier was appointed to the SC on 7 March 2019, after serving as a CA associate justice from 13 September 2007, to 6 March 2019.
Before her CA stint, she served at the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) from 1983 to 2007 as a trial attorney, solicitor and, eventually, assistant solicitor general.
She graduated magna cum laude from the Philippine Normal College in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Education degree and received the Outstanding Student in Social Sciences award that same year.
Lazaro-Javier was class valedictorian and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Civil Law in 1982. She passed the Bar Examination that same year with a grade of 82.8 percent.
Gesmundo was appointed SC associate justice on 14 August 2017, and was promoted to Chief Justice on April 5, 2021.
He obtained his law degree from Ateneo de Manila University in 1984 and passed the bar examination the following year.
He joined the OSG and was named Most Outstanding Solicitor in 1998. As an OSG solicitor, he was also appointed commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government and served the agency until February 15, 2001.
While serving as assistant solicitor general, Gesmundo was appointed associate justice of the Sandiganbayan on October 15, 2005. From the anti-graft court, he was promoted to SC associate justice.
In 2022, as Chief Justice, Gesmundo launched the five-year Strategic Plan for Judicial Innovations (SPJI) to review and assess the organizational structure and operations of the various offices of the judiciary and to develop and establish an information and communications technology infrastructure for the Philippine judiciary.
The SPJI was conceived to deliver responsive and real-time justice. It is anchored on four guiding principles: timely and fair justice, transparent and accountable justice, equal and inclusive justice, and technologically adaptive management.
Since its launch four years ago, the SPJI has begun to achieve its three intended outcomes: efficiency, innovation and access.
Chief Justice Gesmundo has been conferred honorary Doctor of Laws degrees by four universities: Centro Escolar University School of Law and Jurisprudence on July 8, 2021; Manuel L. Quezon University on March 26, 2022; Philippine Christian University on August 31, 2022; and Lyceum of the Philippines University on October 12, 2023.
On December 1, 2021, Gesmundo was conferred the honorary rank of Knight Grand Cross of Rizal. On September 11, 2023, he received the 2023 Chief Justice Richard W. Holmes Award of Merit from the American Judges Association, becoming the first non-American recipient of the award.
Before his government service, Gesmundo worked as a research analyst at Business Day Corporation, where his articles were published in the business newspaper Business Day.
He also worked as a market research officer at the Office of the Australian Trade Commissioner and as a marketing officer until 1985.
The son of farmer Juan A. Gesmundo and public school teacher Zenaida G. Gahon, Chief Justice Gesmundo is married to Lynn Magpantay-Gesmundo, with whom he has a son, Alastair, and twin daughters, Ashley Nicole and Allison Arden.