Chief Justice of the Philippines

Chief Justice of the Philippines Punong Mahistrado ng Pilipinas
Seal of the Supreme Court
Flag of the Supreme Court
Incumbent Alexander Gesmundo since April 5, 2021
Style	The Honorable (formal) Your Honor (when addressed directly in court)
Member of	Supreme Court Presidential Electoral Tribunal Judicial and Bar Council
Appointer	Presidential appointment upon nomination by the Judicial and Bar Council
Term length	Retirement at the age of 70
Inaugural holder	1583 - Dr. Santiago de Vera y Rivas, Captain-General of the Spanish East Indies (Real Audiencia, Spanish East Indies) 1901 - Cayetano Arellano (Supreme Court of the Philippines)
Formation	June 11, 1901
Website	Official Website

The Chief Justice of the Philippines (Filipino: Punong Mahistrado ng Pilipinas) presides over the Supreme Court of the Philippines and is the highest judicial officer of the government of the Philippines. The current chief justice is Alexander Gesmundo, who was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2021.

List of chief justices

#	Image	Chief Justice	Term	Appointed by		Law school
1		Cayetano Arellano	June 11, 1901 – April 12, 1920 (18 years, 306 days)	William McKinley	Republican	UST
2		Victorino Mapa	July 1, 1920 – October 31, 1921 (1 year, 122 days)	Woodrow Wilson	Democratic	UST
3		Manuel Araullo	November 1, 1921 – July 26, 1924 (2 years, 268 days)	Warren G. Harding	Republican	UST
4		Ramón Avanceña	April 1, 1925 – December 24, 1941 (16 years, 267 days)	Calvin Coolidge	Republican	UST
5		José Abad Santos1	December 24, 1941 – May 2, 1942 (129 days)	Manuel L. Quezon	Nacionalista	Northwestern
6		José Yulo	May 7, 1942 – July 9, 1945 (3 years, 63 days)	Japanese Military Administration		UP
7		Manuel Moran	July 9, 1945 – March 20, 1951 (5 years, 254 days)	Sergio Osmeña	Nacionalista	Escuela de Derecho
8		Ricardo Paras	April 2, 1951 – February 17, 1961 (9 years, 321 days)	Elpidio Quirino	Liberal	UP
9		César Bengzon	April 28, 1961 – May 29, 1966 (5 years, 31 days)	Carlos P. Garcia	Nacionalista	UP
10		Roberto Concepcion	June 17, 1966 – April 18, 1973 (6 years, 305 days)	Ferdinand Marcos		UST
11		Querube Makalintal	October 21, 1973 – December 22, 1975 (2 years, 62 days)			UP
12		Fred Ruiz Castro	January 5, 1976 – April 19, 1979 (3 years, 104 days)			UP
13		Enrique Fernando	July 2, 1979 – July 24, 1985 (6 years, 22 days)		KBL	UP
14		Felix Makasiar	July 25, 1985 – November 19, 1985 (117 days)			UP
15		Ramon Aquino	November 20, 1985 – March 6, 1987 (1 year, 106 days)			UP
16		Claudio Teehankee, Sr.	April 2, 1987 – April 18, 1988 (1 year, 16 days)	Corazon Aquino	UNIDO	Ateneo
17		Pedro Yap	April 19, 1988 – June 30, 1988 (72 days)		Independent	UP
18		Marcelo Fernan	July 1, 1988 – December 6, 1991 (3 years, 158 days)			UP
19		Andres Narvasa	December 8, 1991 – November 30, 1998 (6 years, 357 days)			UST
20		Hilario Davide Jr.	November 30, 1998 – December 20, 2005 (7 years, 20 days)	Joseph Estrada	LAMMP	UP
21		Artemio Panganiban	December 20, 2005 – December 7, 2006 (351 days)	Gloria Macapagal Arroyo	Lakas	FEU
22		Reynato Puno	December 8, 2006 – May 17, 2010 (3 years, 160 days)			UP
23		Renato Corona2	May 17, 2010 – May 29, 20123 (2 years, 12 days)			Ateneo
–		Maria Lourdes Sereno3	August 25, 2012 – May 11, 20184 (5 years, 259 days) (de facto)	Benigno Aquino III	Liberal	UP
24		Teresita de Castro	August 28, 2018 – October 10, 2018 (44 days)	Rodrigo Duterte	PDP–Laban	UP
25		Lucas Bersamin	November 26, 2018 – October 18, 2019 (324 days)			UE
26		Diosdado Peralta	October 23, 2019 – March 27, 2021 (1 year, 155 days)			UST
27		Alexander Gesmundo	April 5, 2021 – present (1 year, 343 days)			Ateneo

^1 José Abad Santos was unable to preside over the Supreme Court due to the outbreak of World War II.

^2 Renato Corona was impeached on December 12, 2011, and convicted on May 29, 2012, removing him from office.

^3 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.

^4 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.