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FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
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HOW THE NEXT CHIEF JUSTICE IS CHOSEN
The Judicial and Bar Council has finished interviewing candidates to succeed Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, who is due to retire on November 6. GMA News reported the completed interviews on October 27. The interviews are one stage of a process that gives the President a choice, but also sets limits on who can be chosen and how the appointment is made.
1
WHY IS A NEW CHIEF JUSTICE BEING CHOSEN NOW?
Gesmundo’s approaching retirement will create a vacancy. The Constitution sets the compulsory retirement age for Supreme Court justices at 70. The Constitution also says a Supreme Court vacancy must be filled within 90 days of its occurrence.
That clock runs from the vacancy, not from the interviews or the submission of a shortlist. Screening candidates before the retirement date does not mean that a successor has already been appointed.
2
CAN THE PRESIDENT PICK ANYONE?
The President appoints from a list of at least three nominees prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council, or JBC, for the vacancy. The council recommends candidates; the President makes the appointment from that list.
Being interviewed does not automatically put someone on the final list. Being nominated does not itself make someone Chief Justice. The President cannot simply choose a person outside the JBC list.
3
DOES THE MOST SENIOR JUSTICE AUTOMATICALLY GET THE JOB?
Being the most senior justice does not automatically make someone the next Chief Justice. The constitutional appointment process still applies. An interview, a nomination and an appointment are different steps, even when the candidate already sits on the Court.
Under the Constitution, a Supreme Court member must be a natural-born Filipino, at least 40 years old, with at least 15 years as a lower-court judge or engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines. Members must also have proven competence, integrity, probity and independence. Probity means honesty and upright conduct. These are eligibility requirements, not a prediction of whom the President will select.
4
DOES CONGRESS HAVE TO CONFIRM THE CHOICE?
No. The Constitution expressly says that appointments to the Supreme Court need no confirmation. The President’s selection from the JBC list does not go to the Commission on Appointments for a confirmation vote.
That is different from the appointment of the JBC’s regular members, which requires the Commission on Appointments’ consent. The rules for appointing the people who help screen judges should not be confused with the rules for appointing the justices themselves.
5
DOES THE CHIEF JUSTICE CONTROL EVERY RULING?
The Constitution provides for a Chief Justice and 14 Associate Justices. The Supreme Court decides cases as a full court, called en banc, or in divisions, under the applicable voting rules. The Chief Justice does not decide every case alone, and not every case is decided by all 15 members.
The Constitution also says the justices must consult one another before a case is assigned to a justice to write the Court’s opinion. A change in the chief justiceship does not, by itself, tell us how the Court will rule in a particular dispute. Claims about a future judgment need evidence beyond speculation about the appointment.
BOTTOM LINE
The JBC prepares the list from which the President may choose. The President appoints, without congressional confirmation. Seniority alone does not settle the choice, and becoming Chief Justice does not turn a collegial court into a one-person decision-maker.
SOURCES
- Supreme Court E-Library, 1987 Constitution, Article VIII, Sections 4, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 13. Judicial appointments, qualifications, retirement and collective decision-making.https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/3/353
- GMA News, Joahna Lei Casilao — October 27, 2026. Completed JBC interviews and Gesmundo’s scheduled November 6 retirement.https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/1007289/jbc-concludes-interviews-for-chief-justice-post/story/
- Photo: Ramon FVelasquez / Wikimedia Commons — February 3, 2012. Historical Supreme Court seal photograph, cropped from the original; CC0. Not a photograph of the current interviews or an appointment.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sclogojf.JPGhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/
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