NOT surprisingly, Justice Artemio V. Panganiban appears to be the frontrunner to succeed Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. who is retiring on his 70th birthday on Dec. 19, 2005.

In a lineup of four equally qualified and deserving nominees as Davide’s replacement, Justice Panganiban is a cut above the rest. In his 10th year as a jurist, he has reaped accolades for his judicial probity and mental dexterity, two essential qualities for the chief magistrate of the land.

Panganiban’s consuming passion in his career is judicial reform, where he has effected significant changes in the performance and conduct of dispensers of justice and lawyers in general.

He is concurrently the chairperson of the High Court’s Third Division and the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET). He has been described by Justice Antonio T. Carpio as “undoubtedly the most prolific writer of the Court, bar none.” He is also a member of seven SC committees dealing with judicial reform.

His most recent book, “Judicial Renaissance,” was launched at the opening of the International Conference and Showcase of Judicial Reforms, which he chaired and moderated, and was attended by legal luminaries from 45 countries, including the United States and Russia.

The historic conference, the first under Philippine auspices, tackled issues close to Panganiban’s heart: judicial independence, integrity, transparency, accountability, efficiency and access to justice and, in addition, reforms on education, compensation and selection of judges.

Despite his sterling record, he has kept his feet on the ground, so to speak, and attributes his success to his mentor and role model, his law dean at Far Eastern University, the former Sen. Jovito R. Salonga, as well as a “love for God as the Source of all that is true, good and beautiful.”

After placing sixth in the 1960 bar examinations, he joined the Salonga law office whose partners included the best legal minds in the country like Sedfrey A. Ordonez, Pedro Yap and Neptali A. Gonzales.

But his proudest moment, he recounts in his book, “A Centenary of Justice,” was when he was asked by his mentor to be his personal legal counsel during Salonga’s term as Senate president.

If, for some reasons, he does not make Chief Justice, he can look back with extreme satisfaction of his invaluable contribution to the enhancement of the Philippine justice system. That will be a fitting epitaph when he reaches compulsory retirement on Dec. 7, 2006.