MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte picked Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez to fill the remaining vacancy in the Supreme Court (SC), replacing Associate Justice Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla who went on disability retirement last Nov. 3.
At 11:11 a.m. yesterday, Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta received the letter from Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, informing him of the appointment of Lopez as the newest associate justice, completing the 15 magistrates of the High Court.
Prior to his appointment to the SC, Lopez served as CA associate justice for almost nine years and was the senior member of the Fifth Division.
The 57-year-old Lopez graduated cum laude with a Political Science degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he also pursued his Law studies while working as a research assistant at the UP Institute of Judicial Administration.
He passed the Bar in 1989 with an average of 84.55 percent. He then worked as UP’s legal counsel for a year before being promoted as chief legal officer for UP Manila-Philippine General Hospital.
He is a member of the Sigma Rho Fraternity.
In 1991, he worked as chief legal counsel of the Senate then under Senate President Jovito Salonga.
A year later, he entered politics and served four terms as councilor of the Third District of Manila from 1992 until 1998 and from 2001 up to 2006 only, before he was appointed as city prosecutor of Manila from June 2000 to March 2001.
During his stint as a city prosecutor, he instituted some reforms such as the computerized system of monitoring cases.
Part of his career record also showed that he was named the country’s first agriculture attaché to Beijing, China from June 2000 to March 2001, during the term of Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte expects Lopez to “uphold judicial independence and the rule of law” and to continue the reforms in court processes. – Alexis Romero