MANILA -- The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has extended the nomination period for the Chief Justice post to September 2.
"(This is) to invite more applicants," justice secretary and JBC ex-officio member, Menardo Guevarra, said in a message to reporters Thursday.
Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta and Estela Perlas-Bernabe have accepted their automatic nomination, being among the five most senior justices of the High Court.
Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin will mandatorily retire from the service upon turning 70 on October 18.
Peralta and Bernabe, both 67, are the third and fourth senior justices in the 15-member high tribunal.
Peralta was appointed by former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the high court in 2009. Bernabe was appointed by former president Benigno Aquino III in 2011.
While not one of the five most senior Supreme Court magistrates who are automatically nominated to the chief justice post, a third incumbent magistrate, Andres Reyes, 69, was nominated for the position.
"Justice Reyes was nominated by retired justices Jose Perez and Sesinando Villon," Guevarra said.
A fourth magistrate, Associate Justice Jose Reyes Jr., has also joined those vying for the post, according to the JBC. He was appointed to the Supreme Court post by President Rodrigo Duterte on August 9, 2018.
The two most senior magistrates, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and Associate Justice Mario Victor Leonen have declined their automatic nominations.
Carpio is set to compulsorily retire from service on October 26. Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa was also automatically nominated but likewise declined.
Associate Justice Francis H. Jardeleza, the sixth most senior among the High Court justices, was not included in the nomination because he is compulsorily retiring on September 26. (PNA)
