President Rodrigo Duterte indicated on Wednesday one of the reasons why he did not appoint Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio as chief justice despite being the most senior was due to their opposing stance over the United Nations arbitral award on the Philippines.

"What do you want, the arbitration, so I'll order my police to go there in Palawan and shoot it out?" Duterte said in a speech during the groundbreaking of Panguil Bay Bridge in Lanao del Norte.

Carpio, one of those who helped in the Philippine arbittation case against China's nine-dash line in the South China Sea, has been urging the Duterte government to insist on the ruling.

Duterte has decided to put on the back burner the award by the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration invalidating China's historic and sovereign claim in almost the entire South China Sea so as not to irk Beijing.

But Duterte promised to bring up the ruling against China at the "right time" before he steps down from office in 2022.

Duterte said he did not want Filipino soldiers to suffer due to the territorial dispute.

Duterte chose Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin over Carpio as chief justice of the Supreme Court.

"I appointed Bersamin as the chief justice," he said, noting Carpio was "only salutatorian" of newly appointed Associate Justice Rosmari Carandang, who stayed in the Court of Appeals for so long.

He also said Carpio previously said he did not want to be the chief justice.

Bersamin, 69, is the 25th chief justice. He replaced retired Chief Justice Teresita de Castro. Celerina Monte/DMS