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Supreme Court Associate Justice Edgardo Delos Santos will retire today, June 30, a year earlier than his mandatory retirement age of 70 on June 12, 2022.
The SC En Banc has approved Delos Santos’ early retirement “for reasons pertaining to his current state of health.” The high court did not disclose the state of his health. With the retirement of Delos Santos, who was appointed by President Duterte in December 2019, there are now two vacancies in the 15-member bench.
The first vacancy was due to the promotion of then Associate Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo as Chief Justice last April 5.
President Duterte has yet to name the successor of Gesmundo from the shortlist of nominees submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council last June 18.
The nominees include Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotage Tang, former Ateneo de Manila University law dean Sedfrey Candelaria, Court of Appeals Associate Justices Ramon Cruz and Japar Dimaampao, Sandiganbayan Associate Justices Geraldine Faith Econg and Rafael Lagos, Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, CA Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh, and Deputy Court Administrator Raul Villanueva.
As of this writing, the President has not announced his appointee from among the nine nominees. Under the Constitution, the President has 90 days from the date of vacancy to fill a vacant post in the judiciary.
The JBC, the 7-member constitutional body that accepts, screens and nominates appointments to the judiciary, has opened the applications or recommendations to Delos Santos’ post. The deadline was set on July 16.
Delos Santos was the second justice who opted for early retirement in the past year. Then Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta retired last March 27 or a year ahead of his mandatory retirement on March 27, 2022.
Delos Santos started his judicial career in 1983 when he was appointed municipal trial court (MTC) judge in Siaton, Negros Oriental. In 1987, he was appointed judge of the municipal trial court in cities (MTCC) for Dumaguete City. Rey Requejo
In 1993, he was promoted as judge of the regional trial court (RTC) in Bacolod City. Thereafter, he was appointed associate justice of the Court of Appeals in 2008 and served as executive justice of the appellate court in the Visayas.
During his entire stint in the Judiciary, he had been recognized with the following distinctions: 2016 Ulirang Ama Sectoral Award for Law and Judiciary, 2009 Outstanding Palomponganon Award, 2008 Outstanding Law Alumnus of the University of San Carlos, among others. Moreover, he had also been a nominee of the following awards: 2007 Awards for Judicial Excellence and2006 Awards for Judicial Excellence.
Apart from his judicial duties, Justice Delos Santos also served as law professor in University of St. La Salle – Bacolod City from 1993 to 1999 and in Negros Oriental State University – Dumaguete City from 2008 – 2011 where he taught Remedial Law subjects and Legal Ethics. He is also serving as a member of the Board of Trustees of Casa Cittadini Foundation, Inc.—home for neglected girls and a non-profit institution run by the Ursuline Sisters of Somasca. Rey Requejo
