Another SC justice considers early retirement

MANILA, Philippines — Another Supreme Court justice is considering early retirement, which will give President Rodrigo Duterte another opportunity to appoint a new magistrate to the top court.

SC spokesperson Brian Hosaka announced Friday that Justice Edgardo Delos Santos is mulling over retiring early due to “health reasons,” but did not disclose what these were.

Hosaka said Delos Santos has advised his staff as early as March 19 to start looking for other jobs.

But until Delos Santos actually retires, he still sits in the high court, said the SC spokesperson.

“Justice Delos Santos further added that he remains an incumbent member of the Supreme Court until after a specific date of retirement, as may be indicated in a formal letter from him to the En Banc, is accepted and acted upon by the Court,” Hosaka said.

Delos Santos, 68, was appointed by Duterte in 2019 to replace retired Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza. He is not set to retire until June 12, 2022.

The Cebu-based appellate court justice Delos Santos wanted to end his four-decade career in government service at the high tribunal.

A native of Palompon, Leyte, Delos Santos was known as the habal-habal driver judge of Dumaguete City who succeeded associate justice Gabriel Inglis as an executive judge of the Visayas station.

Delos Santos is a graduate of the University of San Carlos in Cebu, where he earned his bachelor of laws degree.

Delos Santos initially served as a municipal trial court judge in Dumaguete and later became regional trial court judge in Bacolod before his appointment to the appellate court. — Xave Gregorio with reports from Kristine Joy Patag and Edith Regalado/The STAR