Carpio 'happy and sad' as he bids SC farewell
MANILA, Philippines — Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio delivered his farewell address during his last official attendance to the Supreme Court’s flag-raising ceremonies on Monday, thanking colleagues and staff for their “utmost dedication and professionalism in their work and service to the Filipino people.”
“As I return here to this spot where I started my journey before the Supreme Court family during a flag ceremony one fine day 18 years ago, I am both happy and sad,” Carpio said.
“Happy because I have done my best to serve our people and sad because I am bidding farewell to my family of the last 18 years.”
As the SC’s most senior member, Carpio serves as acting chief justice following the retirement of former Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin last Friday. Carpio is also set to retire on Friday midnight when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.
“It was a very long journey allowing me to write 935 full-blown decisions, 79 dissenting opinions, 30 concurring opinions, 13 separate opinions, and four concurring and dissenting opinions leaving no backlog,” Carpio said.
A five-time candidate for chief justice, Carpio was granted the full retirement privileges of a chief justice despite not being appointed to the highest post.
As an SC justice, Carpio's voting history includes concurring on the Philippine custody of US Marine Daniel Smith in relation to the Subic rape case, concurring on the unconstitutionality of the Priority Development Assistance Fund and dissenting the hero’s burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Carpio graduated valedictorian from the University of the Philippines College of Law in 1975 and placed sixth in the bar examinations the same year. He was appointed chief presidential legal counsel in 1992 by former President Fidel Ramos and was appointed SC associate justice in 2001 by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
“In his 18 years in the High Court, Senior Associate Justice Carpio greatly enriched Philippine jurisprudence with his erudite and eloquent ponencias (decisions)," read the certificate of appreciation conferred on Monday to Carpio by lawyer Maria Carina Cunanan, chair of the SC Program on Awards and Incentives for Service Excellence Committee.
President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to appoint the next chief justice. He is mandated by the 1987 Constitution to choose the chief justice within 90 days of the vacancy.
Candidates for the post are Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Andres Reyes Jr., who were endorsed and shortlisted from the initial list released by the Judicial and Bar Council.
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