President Rodrigo Duterte rewards presumptive chief justice Teresita De Castro for her starring role in the ouster of former chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

De Castro should have seriously considered declining her nomination and refusing her impending appointment as chief justice of the Supreme Court considering the seriousness of the impeachment complaint against her for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.

Fealty to the high standards of ethics and morality required of judicial officers should have impelled De Castro to forfeit her ambition.

Her serving an inordinately brief tenure as chief magistrate for 42 days or a mere month and a half militates against her appointment.

With the very short period of her incumbency, it is humanly impossible for her to accomplish wonders or anything of substance in the Supreme Court.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN