GMA appoints four new justices to CA, Sandiganbayan

President Arroyo has appointed four new associate justices to the Court of Appeals and one to the Sandiganbayan, Malacañang announced yesterday.

According to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, the four new CA members are former judges Marlene Sison, Romeo Barza, Agustin Dizon and Sixto Marella Jr. while the new Sandiganbayan Justice is Samuel Martires.

Sison was the presiding judge of the Quezon City regional trial court (RTC) Branch 85 since 2001 and of the Manila metropolitan trial court Branch 28 from 1996 to 2001. She had been in the legal profession for 23 years now.

Barza was Makati City RTC Branch 208 judge since 2002, after his seven-year tenure at the Batangas City RTC from 1995.

Dizon, on the other hand, had been an RTC judge for 23 years. His appointed jurisdictions were Quezon City Branch 80, Guagua, Pampanga Branch 53 and Iba, Zambales Branch 69. Out of the four, he has been in law practice the longest with 43 years of legal experience.

Marella served as Makati City RTC judge since 1994. He is also a professional lecturer at the Philippine Justice Academy, was a former commissioner of the Commission on Bar Discipline and has been practicing law for 34 years.

The only new Sandiganbayan justice, Martires, was a former RTC judge in Agoo, La Union. Martires has been in the legal service for 29 years now, having started his career in law in 1976.

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner Juanito Espino Jr. of the Commission on Audit (COA) was promoted to the rank of commissioner by the President to take up the post vacated by Emmanuel Dalman, who had retired.

A native of Iloilo City, Espino obtained his Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree at the University of San Agustin. He studied law at Aquinas University and finished his Masters in Business Administration at the University of Santo Tomas (UST). He passed the CPA Board Examinations in 1974. — With Raymond Dumaual