Peralta takes oath as 26th chief justice
Credit to Author: Catherine S. Valente, TMT| Date: Thu, 24 Oct 2019 16:33:20 +0000
Supreme Court Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta took his oath before President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang on Thursday.
Duterte appointed Peralta as the country’s top magistrate on Wednesday to replace Lucas Bersamin, who retired on October 18.
The new chief justice is expected to remain at the high court’s helm until March 2022.
Peralta is the most senior of the three candidates endorsed by the Judicial and Bar Council for the post. The other two are Associate Justices Estela Perlas Bernabe and Andres Reyes Jr.
Before he joined the high tribunal, Peralta was the presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan. He also served as a prosecutor in Laoag City and as a regional trial court judge in Manila.
Peralta will lead the Supreme Court as it, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, deliberates on the electoral protest filed by former senator Ferdinand Marcos against Vice President Maria Leonor Robredo.
A native of Laoag City, Ilocos Norte, he graduated from the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law in 1979 and worked in the private sector before he joined the government as an assistant city prosecutor in 1987.