MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) has promoted assistant court administrator Thelma Bahia to the position of deputy court administrator.
Bahia takes the place of Nimfa Vilches, who died of cancer in December 2011.
Bahia was chosen by voting of the justices during their summer session in Baguio City last Tuesday.
Eight justices voted for her over her closest rival for the post, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 85 Judge Filomena Singh, who got seven votes.
An insider said that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno voted for Judge Singh but was overruled by the majority.
Bahia accepted her appointment and vowed to continue her service to the high court.
“I want to help the judges and attend to their needs immediately. I put myself in their shoes, and see myself as wanting someone to promptly attend to me,†she said in a statement.
Bahia has been with the SC for four decades. She started as a clerk in the high court’s Third Division then chaired by Associate Justice Enrique Fernando during the martial law years.
On July 2, 1979, she was transferred to the SC en banc after the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos appointed Fernando as the 13th chief justice.
After 30 years, Bahia was appointed assistant court administrator on Sept. 9, 2008.
With her appointment, she joins Raul Villanueva and Jenny Lind Delorino as deputies to Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, who has administrative supervision over all judges nationwide.