Philippine Supreme Court Associate Justice Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez is a loyal civil servant and jurist. She retired on April 30, 2009 from the Supreme Court after 47 years of service in the government. Her mandatory retirement is in December 2010, but she opted to retire earlier due to health reasons, according to a recent Supreme Court press release.
Justice Austria-Martinez was Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals when she was appointed to the High Court on August 26, 2002. She began her public career in 1962, working as a clerk in the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. The following year, she became Legal Officer I in the same Office. In 1964, she joined the Judiciary, working as legal researcher in the Court of First Instance of Rizal, a post she held until 1969. She was later promoted to Attorney Researcher (1969-1975), Senior Attorney (1976), and eventually Division Clerk of Court of the Court of Appeals (1976-1983). She was appointed as the Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 36 of Calamba, Laguna on January 18, 1983. On November 4, 1986, she became the Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 159 of Pasig City. From 1990 to 1992, she concurrently held the position of Executive Judge of the Regional Trial Court of Pasig City. She also served in different capacities as an officer of the Philippines Judges’ Association and the Philippine Women Judges’ Association (1987-1992). On March 5, 1992, she was appointed Court of Appeals Associate Justice, a post she had held until her appointment as CA Presiding Justice on July 27, 2001. On April 12, 2002 she was named Associate Justice of the High Tribunal.
Justice Austria-Martinez earned her Bachelor of Laws degree in 1962 from the University of the Philippines (UP). She also obtained a Master’s degree in National Security Administration in 1980 from the National Defense College of the Philippines. She was born in Manila on December 19, 1940 to lawyers Colonel Benjamin A. Austria, who had served in the Philippine Air Force, and Remedios M. Austria, a Doctor of Civil Law who had served as a consultant in the Graduate School of the University of Santo Tomas (UST). She is the widow of Atty. Daniel T. Martinez who once served as the Clerk of Court of the Supreme Court En Banc.
