President Rodrigo Duterte has named its new Chief Justice.
Diosdado Peralta took the helm of the Supreme Court after former Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin retired last October 18.
Both Malacañang and the Supreme Court confirmed the appointment of Peralta.
Peralta will be serving as Chief Justice until March 2022.
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio was acting Chief Justice and will be retiring on October 26.
In his interview with the Judicial and Bar Council last month, Peralta made a statement that he deserved to be the next Chief Justice.
“I deserve to be Chief Justice because I worked very hard all these years,” he said during the interview.
He was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2009. He served as a longtime Sandiganbayan judge.
Peralta was the author of the Supreme Court decision allowing the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. He was also the one who wrote the decision to make the “Good Conduct Time of Allowance” law retroactive.
Peralta voted in favor of the following decisions: Declaring PDAF or Pork barrel unconstitutional, Senator Grace Poe is a natural-born Filipino, Allowing former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile to post bail, and the acquittal of plunder cases of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The new Chief Justice however voted against upholding the plunder charges of former Senator Jinggoy Estrada and the construction of Torre De Manila.
