Chief Justice of the Philippines () is the title of the person who presides over the Supreme Court and who is the highest judicial officer of the government. As of April 5, 2021, the position is currently held by Alexander Gesmundo, who was appointed by then president Rodrigo Duterte following the early retirement of his predecessor, Diosdado Peralta, in March 2021.
The position of chief justice is the oldest major governmental office continually held by a Filipino. Cayetano Arellano became the first chief justice on June 11, 1901, predating the presidency and vice presidency (established in 1935), the Senate (1916, or September 1, 1901 if counting the Taft Commission), and the House of Representatives (1907, as the Philippine Assembly).
Duties and powers The power to appoint the chief justice lies with the president of the Philippines, who makes the selection from a list of three nominees prepared by the Judicial and Bar Council. There is no material difference in the process of selecting a chief justice from that in the selection of associate justices. As with the other justices of the Supreme Court, the chief justice is obliged to retire upon reaching the age of 70; otherwise there is no term limit for the chief justice. In the 1935 constitution, any person appointed by the president has to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments; in the 1973 constitution, the person whom the president appointed did not have to undergo confirmation under the Commission on Appointments.
The current 1987 constitution does not ascribe any formal role to the chief justice other than as an ex-officio chairman of the Judicial and Bar Council and as the presiding officer in any impeachment trial of the president. The chief justice is also required to personally certify every decision that is rendered by the court. The chief justice carries only 1 vote out of 15 in the court, and is generally regarded, vis-a-vis the other justices, as the primus inter pares rather than as the administrative superior of the other members of the court.
Still, the influence a chief justice may bear within the court and judiciary, and on the national government cannot be underestimated. In the public eye, any particular Supreme Court is widely identified with the identity of the incumbent chief justice, hence appellations such as "The Fernando Court" or "The Puno Court". Moreover, the chief justice usually retains high public visibility, unlike the associate justices, who tend to labor in relative anonymity, with exceptions such as Associate Justice J. B. L. Reyes in the 1950s to 1970s.
By tradition, it is also the chief justice who swears into office the president of the Philippines. One notable deviation from that tradition came in 1986, and later again in 2010. Due to the exceptional political circumstances culminating in the People Power Revolution, on February 25, 1986, Corazon Aquino took her oath of office as president before Associate Justice Claudio Teehankee in San Juan just minutes before Ferdinand Marcos took his own oath of office also as president before Chief Justice Ramon Aquino. Marcos fled into exile later that night. More than two decades afterwards, Benigno Simeon Aquino III followed in his mother's footsteps (with almost similar reasons) by having Associate Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales administer his oath of office, rather than Chief Justice Renato Corona (who was eventually impeached halfway through Aquino's term). Six years later, in 2016, Rodrigo Duterte took his oath of office before Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes, his classmate at San Beda College of Law, instead of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (who would eventually be removed from her position through quo warranto after it was determined that she had been unlawfully holding office ab initio).
The chief justice also names the three justices each from the Supreme Court in the memberships of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal and the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
The chief justice is the chief executive officer of the Philippine judiciary system and together with the whole Supreme Court, exercises administrative supervision over all courts and personnel.
List
PortraitNameTenure startTenure endTenure lengthAppointed by1(1847–1920)June 15,1901April 12,19202(1852–1927)July 1,1920October 31,19213(1853–1924)November 1,1921July 26,19244(1872–1957)April 1,1925December 24,19415(1886–1942)December 24,1941May 1,19426(1894–1976)January 26,1942July 9,19457(1893–1961)July 9,1945March 20,19518(1891–1984)April 2,1951February 17,19619(1896–1992)April 28,1961May 29,196610(1903–1987)June 17,1966April 18,197311(1910–2002)October 21,1973December 22,197512(1914–1979)January 5,1976April 19,197913(1915–2004)July 2,1979July 24,198514(1915–1992)July 25,1985November 19,198515(1917–1993)November 20,1985March 6,198616(1918–1989)April 2,1986April 18,198817(1918–2003)April 19,1988June 30,198818(1927–1999)July 1,1988December 6,199119(1928–2013)December 8,1991November 30,199820(born 1935)November 30,1998December 20,200521(born 1937)December 20,2005December 7,200722(born 1940)December 7,2007May 17,201023(1948–2016)May 17,2010May 29,2012–(born 1960)August 25,2012May 11,201824(born 1948)August 28,2018October 10,201825(born 1949)November 26,2018October 18,201926(born 1952)October 23,2019March 27,202127(born 1956)April 5,2021Incumbent
Acting chief justices The following became senior associate justices in their tenure in the Supreme Court: Senior Associate Justice Year appointed Term as AJTenure as Acting Chief Justice Florentino Torres 1901 1901-1920 April 1, 1920April 20, 1920 Elias Finley Johnson 1903 1903-1933 April 20, 1920July 1, 1920October 31, 1921November 1, 1921July 26, 1924April 1, 1925José Abad Santos 1932 1932-1941December 24, 1941 Manuel V. Moran 1938 1938-1945May 1, 1942 May 7, 1942 Ricardo M. Paras Jr. 1941 1941-1951 March 20, 1951 April 2, 1951 César F. Bengzon 1945 1945-1961 February 17, 1961 April 28, 1961 Roberto R. Concepcion 1954 1954-1966May 29, 1966 June 17, 1966 Querube C. Makalintal 1962 1962-1973April 18, 1973 October 21, 1973 Fred Ruiz Castro 1966 1966-1975December 22, 1975 January 5, 1976 Enrique M. Fernando Sr.1967 1967-1979April 19, 1979 July 2, 1979 Claudio Teehankee Sr. 1968 1979-1986July 24, 1985 July 25, 1985November 19, 1985November 20, 1985March 6, 1987April 1, 1987 Ameurfina Melencio-Herrera 1979 1986 (reappointed)1979-1992 April 18, 1988April 19, 1988June 30, 1988 July 1, 1988December 6, 1991December 8, 1991 Flerida Ruth P. Romero 1991 1991-1999November 30, 1998 Reynato S. Puno1993 1993December 20, 2005 Leonardo A. Quisumbing 1998 1998-2009 December 7, 2005 Antonio T. Carpio 2001 2001-2019 May 17, 2010May 28, 2012 August 25, 2012May 11, 2018 August 28, 2018October 10, 2018 November 28, 2018October 17, 2019October 23, 2019 Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe 2011 2011-2022 March 27, 2022 April 5, 2022
Demographics
Longevity
Order Chief justice Birth Death Age 1 2 3 Querube Makalintal 4 Hilario Davide Living 5 Enrique Fernando 6 Artemio Panganiban Living 7 Reynato Puno Living 8 9 10 Andres Narvasa 11 Roberto Concepcion 12 José Yulo 13 Teresita Leonardo-de Castro Living 14 Ramon Aquino 15 Lucas Bersamin Living 16 Diosdado Peralta Living 17 Felix Makasiar 18 Cayetano Arellano 19 Marcelo Fernán 20 Victorino Mapa 21 Manuel Araullo 22 Claudio Teehankee, Sr. 23 Alexander Gesmundo Living 24 Manuel Moran 25 Renato Corona 26 Fred Ruiz Castro 27 José Abad Santos
By age group
Age group Total % Centenarians 0 Nonagenarians 3 Octogenarians 8 Septugenarians 9 Sexagenarian 7 Quincagenarian 1 Chief justices:
By gender
Gender Total % Male 26 Female 2 Chief justices:
By appointing president
President Total % 6 4 4 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Chief justices: 28 100%
By law school +Law schoolTotal%University of the Philippines College of Law14University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law7Ateneo School of Law3Escuela de Derecho1Far Eastern University Institute of Law1Northwestern University School of Law1University of the East College of Law1Chief justices:28
Notable chief justices José Yulo is the only former speaker of the House of Representatives to be subsequently appointed as chief justice. Meanwhile, Fred Ruiz Castro previously served as Executive Secretary before his subsequent appointment as chief justice. Another, Querube Makalintal, would be elected as Speaker of the Interim Batasang Pambansa (parliament) after his retirement from the court. On the other hand, Marcelo Fernan would, after his resignation from the court, be elected to the Senate and later serve as president of the Senate. Other chief justices served in prominent positions in public service after their retirement include Manuel Moran (ambassador to Spain and the Vatican), Hilario Davide, Jr. (ambassador to the United Nations), and Lucas Bersamin (Executive Secretary). In addition, César Bengzon was elected as the first Filipino to sit as a judge on the International Court of Justice shortly after his retirement in 1966. Roberto Concepcion was reputedly so disappointed with the court's ruling in Javellana v. Executive Secretary where the majority affirmed the validity of the 1973 Constitution despite recognizing the flaws in its ratification, that he retired two months prior to his reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. Thirteen years later, after the ouster of Marcos, the 83-year-old Concepcion was appointed a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission tasked with drafting a new constitution. Drawing from his experiences as chief justice in the early days of martial law, Concepcion introduced several new innovations designed to assure the independence of the Supreme Court, such as the Judicial and Bar Council and the express conferment on the court the power to review any acts of government. The longest period one person served as chief justice was 18 years, 294 days in the case of Cayetano Arellano, who served from 1901 to 1920. Arellano was 73 years, 29 days old upon his resignation, the greatest age ever reached by an incumbent chief justice, and a record unlikely to be broken with the current mandatory retirement age of 70. The shortest tenure of any chief justice was of Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, who served as chief justice for a mere 43 days upon reaching her mandatory retirement age of 70. The previous record was that of Pedro Yap, who served as chief justice for 73 days in 1988. Other chief justices who served for less than a year were Felix Makasiar (85 days), Ramon Aquino (78 days), and Artemio Panganiban (352 days). Of these chief justices, all but Aquino left office upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70; Aquino resigned in 1986 after the newly installed President Corazon Aquino asked for the courtesy resignations of all the members of the court. The oldest person appointed as chief justice was Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, who was 69 years, 324 days old upon her appointment in 2018. Other persons appointed as chief justice in their 69th year were Pedro Yap (69 years, 292 days old); Felix Makasiar (69 years, 280 days old); Artemio Panganiban (69 years, 13 days old); and Lucas Bersamin (69 years, 41 days). The youngest person named as chief justice was Manuel Moran, who was 51 years, 256 days old upon his appointment. Claudio Teehankee had to wait for nearly 18 years as associate justice before he was appointed as chief justice. He was twice bypassed by Ferdinand Marcos in favor a more junior associate justice before he was finally appointed chief justice by Corazon Aquino. Of the Filipino associate justices, Florentino Torres, J. B. L. Reyes, and Antonio Carpio served at least 18 years in the court without getting the appointment to become chief justice. In contrast, Pedro Yap had served as associate justice for only 2 years, 10 days before he was promoted as chief justice. Also notable is Maria Lourdes Sereno's 2 year and 12 day term as associate justice before her de facto term as chief justice.