Meet Corona's defense team

MANILA, Philippines - Brief profiles of defense lawyers for the impeachment trial

1. Justice Serafin Cuevas

Now 83 years old, he served as associate justice of the Supreme Court during the Marcos regime from June 1984 to April 1986. Prior to his appointment to the SC, he was a justice in the Court of Appeals, judge in the Court of First Instance, and fiscal in Manila.

A product of the University of the Philippines College of Law, he had four decades of teaching experience not only in the same institution but in other universities as well.

He was also one of the lead defense counsels of deposed President Joseph Estrada during his impeachment trial in 2000.

2. Eduardo de los Angeles

He is a former dean of the Ateneo de Manila University - College of Law and a managing partner at Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los

Angeles Law Office, the third largest law firm in the country. He finished Bachelor of Laws degree from the Ateneo Law School in 1966, and a Master of Laws degree from the Columbia Law School of Columbia University in New York in 1970. He is also a former president of the Philippine Stock Exchange.

3. Prof. Jacinto Jimenez

He is a resident constitutional expert and long-time professor at the Ateneo Law School, and also a partner at top law firm Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles. He finished Bachelor of Laws from the Ateneo Law School in 1964 with honors, and placed third in the 1968 Bar with a grade of 86.8 percent.

4. Ramon Esguerra

A former Department of Justice undersecretary, he was tapped to help retired Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. when he faced an impeachment complaint in 2003. He is managing partner in Esguerra & Blanco Law Offices and is also teaching criminal and remedial laws at the UP College of Law where he also graduated in 1979.

5. Dean Jose Roy III

He was former dean of the College of Law and president of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. He is another product of the Ateneo Law School.

6. Joel Bodegon

He is managing partner of Bodegon Estorninos Guerzon Borje & Gozos Law Offices. He was also partner in Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz

Law Offices from 1982 to 1986. He finished his Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines in 1974 and was admitted to the

Philippine Bar in 1975, before joining the Office of the Solicitor General as trial attorney.

7. German Lichauco II

He is from topnotch Siguion-Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako Law Offices and described as “an intra-corporate dispute litigator whose expertise includes hostile corporate takeover and control.” He had also handled “a wide array of cases that include heinous crimes, medical malpractice, construction and commercial arbitration, personal injuries and business tort or contractual controversies.”

8. Dean Tranquil Salvador III

A partner at top law firm Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De Los Angeles, he was former Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay law school dean and UP law professor.

9. Rico Paolo Quicho

Corona

A partner in Quicho and Angeles Law Offices, he is an expert in litigation who is also lawyering for embattled Civil Service Commission chair Francisco Duque III in a corruption case involving Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) funds.

10. Karen Jimeno

She graduated cum laude from the UP College of Law before finishing her master’s degree in law at the prestigious Harvard University in the

United States.

11. Dennis Manalo

Also from the Siguion-Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako Law Offices who volunteered for the chief justice’s defense, he is described by the firm as concentrating on “criminal and labor litigation [with] substantial experience in trial work and appellate practice.”

12. Noel Lazaro

He is also partner at Siguion-Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako Law Offices. He is described by his firm as “a trial and appellate litigator with concentration in commercial, criminal and civil disputes.” He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the UP College of Law in 1995.