Chief Justice Peralta to retire one year early in March 2021

Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta will retire in March 2021, one year ahead of his compulsory retirement.

The Supreme Court confirmed Tuesday that Peralta will step down from the court on his 69th birthday on March 27, 2021. The mandatory retirement age for judges and justices is 70.

Court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said Peralta confirmed to him his intention to avail of early retirement but did not tell him the reason.

"The Chief Justice did not elaborate further but said that he will make a formal announcement in due time," Hosaka said in a message to reporters.

President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Peralta as chief justice in October 2019. Before that, Peralta served as an associate justice of the high court from 2009.

Whoever will succeed Peralta will be Duterte's fourth chief justice appointee in less than three years. Duterte previously named Teresita Leonardo-De Castro and Lucas Bersamin to the Philippines' highest judicial post.

When Peralta retires, the five most senior justices will be automatically nominated for the post, subject to their confirmation. They are Justices Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Marvic Leonen, Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, Alexander Gesmundo, and Ramon Paul Hernando.

The past months saw Peralta steer the judiciary amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which accelerated the courts' transition to the use of digital and online technology.

The Peralta court has been criticized for its decision to toss to the trial courts a petition seeking the release, on humanitarian grounds, of detainees with existing medical conditions during the pandemic.

The SC with Peralta at the helm also handled petitions involving ABS-CBN's franchise and Duterte's health.   —KBK, GMA News