COURT Administrator Jose Midas Marquez finally joined the ranks of Supreme Court justices after he was appointed by President Duterte to take the post of Associate Justice Edgardo delos Santos, who retired last June, a year ahead of his mandatory retirement age of 70.
Marquez’s appointment was contained in a letter dated September 27 but was only received by the Office of Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo yesterday.
Delos Santos opted to retire early due to health reasons.
Marquez, 55, is set to serve the SC for 15 years, or until 2036 when he reaches his mandatory retirement age. Marquez has been applying since 2017 for a seat in the SC and was consistently shortlisted by the Judicial Bar Council.
Duterte, on Monday night, also appointed Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles as acting presidential spokesman, vice Harry Roque who is running for senator in next year’s polls.
Nograles, the current co-chairperson of the Inter-agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, is a former member of the House of Representatives before he joined the Duterte Cabinet.
Marquez is expected to inherit the cases handled by Delos Santos prior to his retirement, including the petitions questioning the constitutionality of Duterte’s crackdown against illegal drugs.
With Marquez’ appointment, there are now only three non-Duterte appointees in the SC, namely, Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe, and Associate Justices Marvic Leonen and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa.
Bernabe is set to retire in May 2022. Another justice, Rosmari Carandang, is set to retire in January next year.
Sometime in 2018, Davao City Mayor and presidential daughter Sara Duterte-Carpio opposed Marquez’s application, saying he colluded with Duterte supporters to get the sheriff to drop his disbarment complaint against her in connection with the infamous punching incident in Davao City in 2011.
Duterte-Carpio punched the sheriff after he insisted on implementing a demolition order. Marquez denied he used his influence to convince the complainant and witnesses to withdraw their complaint against Sara.
As court administrator, Marquez supervised the trial courts and 2,600 judges as well as 25,000 court employees in the country. He has had his own share of controversies, especially when he served as concurrent court administrator, SC spokesperson, and chief of staff of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona.
He was also accused by former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno of leading court employees in their protest actions when an impeachment complaint was filed against her.
Sereno was later ousted from her post via a quo warranto case filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
In July 2018, a complaint for misappropriation was lodged against Marquez in connection with the $21 million in loans received by the SC from the World Bank to finance reform projects of the Judiciary.
Marquez denied the accusations filed by one Rhjay Laurea before the Office of the Ombudsman, saying he has nothing to do with the loans and that it was an “old’ rehashed and recycled” issue.
Then Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro vouched for Marquez, saying he had nothing to do with the loans. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
