CA Justice Reyes appointed to SC

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has appointed to the Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes of the Court of Appeals (CA).

The two are reportedly long-time friends.

Reyes is Aquino’s second appointee to the 15-man tribunal after law professor Ma. Lourdes Aranal-Sereno.

The appointment papers of Reyes reached the office of Chief Justice Renato Corona at the SC yesterday, SC spokesman Midas Marquez confirmed to reporters.

Handpicked by the President from a list of six nominees from the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), Reyes replaces Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura who retired from the High Court last June 13.

The President has yet to name another appointee to the High Court who will take the place of retired associate justice and now Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

The remaining five nominees in the shortlist are: CA justices Jose Reyes Jr., Magdangal de Leon, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Japar Dimaampao; and businessman-lawyer Rodolfo Robles.

The JBC shortlist was already meant for selection for the two vacancies, but the Palace only picked one from the six. It was earlier reported that the President was having a hard time choosing the second appointee from the other five since they all have purported links to the former administration.

A graduate of San Beda College of Law in 1971, he has worked as vice-president for legal and corporate affairs of R.C. Silverio Group of Companies from 1975 to 1981.

In 1982, he founded a Makati-based law firm, Reyes Daway Lim Bernardo Lindo and Rosales. He also served as the board secretary of National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. and chairman of the board of Celebrity Sports Plaza.

He joined the judiciary in July 1990 as presiding judge of Malabon regional trial court before he was appointed Associate Justice to the CA on Aug. 8, 2000.

Reyes was a recipient of the most outstanding alumnus award in 1998 from his high school alma mater, Colegio de San Pascual Baylon; and most outstanding Obandeño in the field of law in 2003. He was also a finalist in the 1997 Awards for Judicial Excellence.

It can be recalled, however, that Reyes was reprimanded by the High Court in September 2008 in connection to the controversial case involving Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

After a probe by the SC, he was “found guilty of simple misconduct with mitigating circumstance, with a stern warning that a repetition of the same or similar acts will warrant a more severe penalty” along with other magistrates who were also penalized for certain irregularities and improprieties in the handling of the case. – With Delon Porcalla