RETIRED Sandiganbayan Justice Raoul Victorino has endorsed Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to the Supreme Court post vacated by the appointment of Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta as the new chief justice.
In a one-page letter received by the Judicial and Bar Council yesterday, Victorino said Guevarra has the credentials and experienced to be appointed to the highest court in the land.
“I believe that he possesses the necessary credentials, professional experience and the motivation to discharge the dues as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. I have known Secretary Guevarra to be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence and his sense of patriotism through his socio-civic engagements,” Victorino said in his endorsement letter.
Guevarra said though it is every lawyer’s dream to be appointed to the SC, he will have to think first about the nomination considering there are still lots of work and programs to do at the DOJ.
“I don’t think any lawyer will close the possibility to be appointed to such lofty position but I will have to think about it very, very seriously. No hesitating but lots of work to do at DOJ,” he said.
Victorino said Guevarra was a “dedicated public servant with unblemished records” including his stint as Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (DESLA) at the Office of the President prior to his appointment as Justice secretary.
Guevarra also served as Office of the President Oversight Representative of the Executive Secretary in various National Economic Development Authority cabinet level committee as well as an arbitrator of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Guevarra graduated from the Ateneo School of Law and placed second in the 1985 Bar examinations.
