The chief justice of the Philippines () presides over the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

and is the highest judicial officer of the

government of the Philippines The government of the Philippines () has three interdependent branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The Philippines is Central government, governed as a unitary state under a presidential system, presidential representativ ...

. As of April 5, 2021, the position is currently held by

Alexander Gesmundo Alexander Gahon Gesmundo (born November 6, 1956) is a Filipino judge who has served as the 27th Chief Justice of the Philippines, chief justice of the Philippines since 2021. He previously served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of t ...

, who was appointed by President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

following the early retirement of his predecessor, Diosdado Peralta, in March 2021. The chief justice, who was first named on June 11, 1901, in the person of

Cayetano Arellano Cayetano Simplicio Arellano y Lonzón (March 2, 1847 – December 23, 1920) was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines under the American Civil Government. Cayetano Arellano had occupied a high position in Aguinaldo's go ...

, is the oldest existing major governmental office continually held by a Filipino, preceding the presidency and vice presidency (1935), senators (1916, or as the

Taft Commission The Taft Commission, also known as the Second Philippine Commission (Filipino language, Filipino: ''Ikalawang Komisyon ng Pilipinas'', Spanish language in the Philippines, Spanish: Segunda Comisión de Filipinas), was established by United Sta ...

, on September 1, 1901) and the members of the House of Representatives (1907 as the

Philippine Assembly The Philippine Assembly (sometimes called the Philippine National Assembly) was the lower house of the Philippine Legislature from 1907 to 1916, when it was renamed the House of Representatives of the Philippines. The Philippine Assembly ...

Duties and powers

The power to appoint the chief justice lies with the

president of the Philippines The president of the Philippines (, sometimes referred to as ) is the head of state, head of government and chief executive of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the commander-in-ch ...

, who makes the selection from a list of three nominees prepared by the

Judicial and Bar Council The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC; ) of the Philippines is a Constitution of the Philippines, constitutionally-created body that recommends appointees for vacancies that may arise in the composition of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Supr ...

. 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 An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, or council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term ''List of Latin phrases (E)#ex officio, ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the off ...

chairman of the Judicial and Bar Council and as the presiding officer in any

impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...

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 is a Latin phrase meaning first among equals. It is typically used as an honorary title for someone who is formally equal to other members of their group but is accorded unofficial respect, traditionally owing to their seniority in office. H ...

'' 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 The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...

, on February 25, 1986,

Corazon Aquino María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...

took her oath of office as president before Associate Justice

Claudio Teehankee Claudio Ong Teehankee, CCLH ( zh, t=鄭建祥, s=郑建祥, poj=Tī Kiàn-siông; April 18, 1918 – November 27, 1989) was the 16th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 1986 to 1988. He was also the most senior associa ...

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

just minutes before

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

took his own oath of office also as president before Chief Justice

Ramon Aquino Ramon Caguicla Aquino (August 31, 1917 – March 31, 1993) was the 15th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. He was appointed on November 20, 1985, the last Chief Justice appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos. Personal lif ...

. 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 Renato Tereso Antonio Coronado Corona (October 15, 1948 – April 29, 2016) was a Filipino judge who was the 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 2010 to 2012. He served as an associate justice after being appointe ...

(who was eventually impeached halfway through Aquino's term). Six years later, in 2016,

took his oath of office before Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes, his classmate at

San Beda College of Law San Beda College of Law is the law school of San Beda University, a private, Roman Catholic university run by the Benedictine monks in the Philippines.Directory of Higher Education Institutions, Commission on Higher Education, 2006-2007. The mai ...

, 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

: José Abad Santos was unable to preside over the Supreme Court due to the outbreak of World War II. : Renato Corona was

impeached Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eu ...

on December 12, 2011, and convicted on May 29, 2012, removing him from office. : Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio served as acting chief justice after the Impeachment of Renato Corona from May 30, 2012 to August 25, 2012 and after the removal of Maria Lourdes Sereno via quo warranto proceedings from May 14, 2018 to August 25, 2018. : Maria Lourdes Sereno was removed on May 11, 2018 via ''quo warranto'' by a special ''en banc'' session; the petition alleged Sereno's appointment was void ''ab initio'' due to her failure in complying with the requirements of the Judicial and Bar Council. Hence her entire term as chief justice is considered a ''de facto'' tenure; legally void since the ouster of her predecessor. Sereno filed an ''ad cautelam'' motion for reconsideration pleading for the reversal of the decision on May 31, 2018, but on June 19, 2018 was denied with finality (meaning no further pleading shall be entertained, as well as for the immediate entry for judgment) for lack of merit. : As a result of '' Republic v. Sereno'', Maria Lourdes Sereno is no longer considered the 24th chief justice of the Philippines, as the court ruled that her appointment was never legal but null and void

ab initio ( ) is a Latin term meaning "from the beginning" and is derived from the Latin ("from") + , ablative singular of ("beginning"). Etymology , from Latin, literally "from the beginning", from ablative case of "entrance", "beginning", related t ...

. Thus, on August 25, 2018, Teresita de Castro was appointed by President

as the new

de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' (; ; ) describes practices that are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. The phrase is often used in contrast with '' de facto'' ('from fa ...

and 24th chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Updated daily according to

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

Acting chief justices

The following became senior associate justices in their tenure in the Supreme Court:

Demographics

Longevity

By age group

By gender

By appointing president

By law school

Notable chief justices

José Yulo José Yulo Yulo Sr. (September 24, 1894 – October 27, 1976) was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (May 7, 1942 – July 9, 1945) during the Japanese Occupation and was Speaker of the National Assembly of the Philippines ...

is the only former speaker of the House of Representatives to be subsequently appointed as chief justice. Another, Querube Makalintal, would be elected as Speaker of the

Interim Batasang Pambansa The Interim Batasang Pambansa ( English: Interim National Assembly) was the legislature of the Republic of the Philippines from its inauguration on June 12, 1978, to June 5, 1984. It served as a transitional legislative body mandated by the 1 ...

(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 A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and later serve as

president of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...

. Other chief justices served in prominent positions in public service after their retirement include Manuel Moran (ambassador to

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

), and Hilario Davide, Jr. (ambassador to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

). In addition, César Bengzon was elected as the first Filipino to sit as a judge on the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

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 Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

, Concepcion introduced several new innovations designed to assure the independence of the Supreme Court, such as the

and the express conferment on the court the power to

review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

any acts of government. * The longest period one person served as chief justice was 18 years, 294 days in the case of

, 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),

(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

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 his 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. *

had to wait for nearly 18 years as associate justice before he was appointed as chief justice. He was twice bypassed by

in favor a more junior associate justice before he was finally appointed chief justice by

. Of the Filipino associate justices,

Florentino Torres Florentino Torres y Santos (October 16, 1844 – April 29, 1927) was as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Prior to his appointment as an Associate Justice, he was the first Filipino to be appointed as attorney-general. ...

and J. B. L. Reyes served over 18 years in the court without becoming chief justice. In contrast, Pedro Yap had served as associate justice for only 2 years, 10 days before he was promoted as chief justice. * The longest-lived chief justice was César Bengzon, who died in 1992 aged 96 years, 97 days old. Two other chief justices lived past 90: Ricardo Paras (93 years, 235 days) and Querube Makalintal (91 years, 322 days). * The youngest chief justice to die was

José Abad Santos José Abad Santos y Basco (, ; February 19, 1886 – May 1, 1942) was the fifth chief justice of the Philippines, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. He briefly served as the acting president of the Philippines, president of ...

, who was executed by the Japanese army in 1942 at age 56 years, 77 days. The youngest chief justice to die from non-violent causes was Fred Ruiz Castro, who died in 1979 of a heart attack inflight to India, at age 64 years, 231 days. Abad Santos, Castro, and Manuel Araullo are the only chief justices to die while in office. * The first chief justice to be

. On December 12, 2011, 188 of the 285 members of

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

voted to transmit to the

the

Articles of Impeachment An article of impeachment is a documented statement which specifies the charges to be tried in an impeachment trial as a basis for removing an officeholder. Articles of impeachment are an aspect of impeachment processes of many governments that ut ...

filed against him. On May 29, 2012, the Senate, voting 20–3, convicted Corona under Article II pertaining to his failure to disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth. * Maria Lourdes Sereno was the first female appointed to serve as chief justice, following the impeachment of Renato Corona and deliberations by the Judicial and Bar Council in 2012 (her successor Teresita Leonardo-de Castro is the ''de jure'' first female chief justice). If not for the ''quo warranto'' petition which was granted on May 11, 2018, that removed her from the post as well as voiding her appointment and declaring her tenure as a ''de facto'' term, she would have been the second chief justice to similarly undergo impeachment proceedings as her late predecessor, Corona. Her ouster was made final on June 19, 2018, by the denial with finality (meaning no further pleading would be entertained, as well as for the immediate entry for judgment) of her ''ad cautelam'' motion for reconsideration filed on May 31, 2018, pleading for the reversal of her ouster via ''quo warranto''.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:11 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:60 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1901 till:12/31/2026 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1910 Colors = id:Vacant value:black id:None value:gray(0.3) id:abolished value:gray(0.6) id:ADMU value:brightblue legend:Ateneo_de_Manila id:Esc value:claret legend:Escuela_de_Derecho id:FEU value:green legend:FEU id:Northwestern value:purple legend:Northwestern id:UE value:red legend: UE id:UP value:rgb(0.45,0,0) legend:UP id:UST value:yelloworange legend:UST id:linemark value:gray(0.8) id:linemark2 value:gray(0.9) Legend = columns:1 left:130 top:40 columnwidth:200 BarData = barset:PM PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM from:06/11/1901 till:04/01/1920 text:"Cayetano Arellano" color:UST from:07/01/1920 till:10/31/1921 text:"Victorino Mapa" color:UST from:11/01/1921 till:07/26/1924 text:"Manuel Araullo" color:UST from:04/01/1925 till:12/24/1941 text:"Ramon Avanceña" color:UST from:12/24/1941 till:05/07/1942 text:"José Abad Santos" color:Northwestern from:02/05/1942 till:07/09/1945 text:"Jose Yulo" color:UP from:07/09/1945 till:03/20/1951 text:"Manuel Moran" color:Esc from:04/02/1951 till:02/16/1961 text:"Ricardo Paras" color:UP from:04/28/1961 till:05/29/1966 text:"Cesar Bengzon" color:UP from:06/17/1966 till:04/18/1973 text:"Roberto Concepcion" color:UST from:10/21/1973 till:12/22/1975 text:"Querebe Macalintal" color:UP from:01/05/1976 till:04/19/1979 text:"Fred Ruiz Castro" color:UP from:07/02/1979 till:07/24/1985 text:"Enrique Fernando" color:UP from:07/25/1985 till:11/19/1985 text:"Felix Makasiar" color:UP from:11/20/1985 till:03/06/1986 text:"Ramon Aquino" color:UP from:04/02/1986 till:04/18/1988 text:"Claudio Teehankee" color:ADMU from:04/18/1988 till:07/01/1988 text:"Pedro Yap" color:UP from:07/01/1988 till:12/06/1991 text:"Marcelo Fernan" color:UP from:12/08/1991 till:12/30/1998 text:"Andres Narvasa" color:UST from:12/30/1998 till:12/20/2005 text:"Hilario Davide" color:UP from:12/20/2005 till:12/07/2006 text:"Artemio Panganiban" color:FEU from:12/08/2006 till:05/17/2010 text:"Reynato Puno" color:UP from:05/17/2010 till:05/29/2012 text:"Renato Corona" color:ADMU from:08/25/2012 till:05/11/2018 text:"Maria Lourdes Sereno (de facto)" color:UP from:08/28/2018 till:10/10/2018 text:"Teresita Leonardo-de Castro" color:UP from:11/28/2018 till:10/18/2019 text:"Lucas Bersamin" color:UE from:10/23/2019 till:03/27/2021 text:"Diosdado Peralta" color:UST from:04/05/2021 till:04/05/2021 text:"Alexander Gesmundo" color:ADMU

Gallery

File:Scphotosjf.JPG, Portraits of the chief justices at the Supreme Court Building File:Chiefjusticejf.JPG, The chief justice's judicial chambers File:Supremecourtchambersjf.JPG, Reception room for the Office of the Chief Justice