PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has named court administrator Raul Villanueva as associate justice of the Supreme Court, his first appointee in the 15-member High Court.
The President yesterday administered the oath of office to Villanueva in Malacañang.
Villanueva, who was accompanied by his family during the oath taking, replaced Associate Justice Mario Lopez who retired last June 4. He is the SC’s 195th associate justice.
Villanueva also took his oath of office before Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo yesterday afternoon, which was witnessed by the former court administrator’s family and colleagues, including Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen and Associate Justices Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, Ramon Paul Hernando, Henri Jean Paul Inting, Rodil Zalameda, Samuel Gaerlan, Jhosep Lopez, and Japar Dimaampao.
Villanueva brings with him over 20 years of experience in the judiciary.
SC records show that he began his judicial career in 2002 as presiding judge of Branch 255 of the Las Piñas City Regional Trial Court.
He also served concurrently as acting presiding judge in two other courts – a drugs court in Taguig City and a family court in the city of Manila.
In 2009, he was appointed executive judge of the Las Piñas RTC.
The following year, Villanueva was named deputy court administrator, supervising courts across Judicial Regions 1 to 12.
He was appointed as the court administrator in 2022, managing over 2,000 judges and 26,000 court personnel nationwide.
As court administrator, Villanueva implemented key reforms such as the creation of the Office of the Regional Court Manager, which helped decentralize administrative functions and allowed judges to focus on resolving cases.
The SC said that during Villanueva’s first term as court administrator, case disposition rates in the first and second level courts improved from 40 percent in 2021 to 49 percent last year.
Villanueva also issued several important circulars, such as the one which provided protocols for videoconferencing hearings during the COVID-19 pandemic, and procedures for videoconferencing hearings involving deaf litigants and witnesses.
He also played a key part in the issuance of a circular in 2022 aimed at expediting the release of persons deprived of liberty who have completed their service of their sentence.
In his speech during the oath-taking, Marcos said Villanueva’s appointment is well-deserved given his experience and length of service in the judicial branch.
He also said that the new associate justice is also “well-versed in all that needs to be done as for the proper and smooth function of the court.”
He also said that he expects Villanueva’s appointment to contribute to the smoother and better relations between the Executive branch and the High Court.
“We have begun a trend between the Supreme Court and the Executive of a closer relationship in the past couple of years. And I know that the appointment of our new justice will continue that trend and bring the departments of government even closer than before and so that the function of government is smoother, better, and that we are unified in our goal to making life better for all Filipinos,” he added.
