Guevarra endorsed anew as SC associate justice

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FORMER Sandiganbayan justice Raoul Victorino endorsed anew Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to a post in the Supreme Court.

Associate Justice Jose Reyes Jr. will retire in September after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

In a letter received by the Judicial and Bar Council on June 26, Victorino said Guevarra has the qualification and capability to serve in the highest court of the land.

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“This is a man of justice. A true embodiment of justice in our Republic. In a literal sense, too, he being the chief of the Department of Justice,” Victorino said in his two-page letter to the JBC, the body tasked by the Constitution to screen and vet nominees to the judiciary.

Victorino first endorsed Guevarra as associate justice last year, for the post vacated by Diosdado Peralta who was appointed chief justice.

At that time, Guevarra said he considered the endorsement an honor but he still has many things and programs to implement at the DOJ.

Guevarra has yet to comment on the latest endorsement.

Victorino, in his latest endorsement, said he has known Guevarra in all his years in public service as a “dedicated public servant with an unblemished record.”

“He was a deputy executive secretary for legal affairs (DESLA) at the Office of the President prior to his appointment to the DOJ. In his capacity as DESLA, he reviewed all legal matters under the Office of the President, including appeals from certain quasi-judicial agencies of the government, investigation and resolution of administrative and disciplinary cases involving presidential appointees and high-ranking officials, and all executive issuances and presidential actions on matter of governmental concerns,” he said.

Victorino said Guevarra also served as the oversight representative of the executive secretary in various NEDA-Cabinet level committees as well as an arbitrator of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He said Guevarra was also part of the legal team that won for the country in 2016 the arbitration case filed by the previous administration challenging the excessive claims of China in the South China Sea before the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Victorino also cited Guevarra’s placing second in the 1985 Bar examinations after graduating at the Ateneo Law School as a second honor.

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