2 CA justices appointed to Supreme Court —source

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed two justices of the Court of Appeals (CA) to two vacancies in the Supreme Court, a source said Tuesday.

Edgardo delos Santos of the CA in Cebu and Mario Lopez will take over the associate justice posts left by Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza, who retired last September and October, respectively.

A consistent applicant to the SC, Delos Santos is known as the "habal-habal" justice from his days transporting his family around on a motorcycle even when he was already a judge in Dumaguete.

Starting out as a legal researcher, he rose from the ranks over four decades and said he would like to end his career with a stint in the High Court.

Lopez has also repeatedly applied and been shortlisted for an SC associate justice's post.

In one of his latest interviews with the Judicial and Bar Council this year, Lopez said it is the president's prerogative to allow Chinese nationals to fish within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.

Both Delos Santos and Lopez were part of the first batch of SC aspirants who took a decision-writing exam as part of the requirements for their application.

Joining a tribunal filled with Duterte appointees, Delos Santos and Lopez are the President's 11th and 12th picks as associate justices of the High Court.

Duterte has also appointed three chief justices: Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Lucas Bersamin, and incumbent top magistrate Diosdado Peralta. — MDM, GMA News