I do not personally know the background of the newly appointed associate justice of the Philippine Supreme Court in the person of Jose Perez except my knowledge of his position as the Court Administrator of the Supreme Court at the time of his appointment and except for the fact I met him during a group meeting that I had once attended a few years back at the Philippine Judicial Academy to discuss with the top officials of the academy the idea of spreading the worthy concept of the “180-Day Express Court System” which the Las Pinas City Bar Association (LPBA), Inc. was pushing in support of the innovative advocacy of then Las Pinas City Executive Judge Bonifacio Sanz Maceda. Read below a news item on the recent appointment of Justice Perez, for your information.
New SC justice completes rise through the ranks
By Norman Bordadora
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:09:00 12/26/2009
MANILA, Philippines - President Macapagal-Arroyo has appointed Court Administrator Jose Perez to the Supreme Court, tribunal spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez announced Friday.
Marquez said Perez will fill the vacancy left by retired Senior Associate Justice Leonardo Quisumbing in November. In the process, Perez will become the 167th justice of the Supreme Court.
Only the seat left by Associate Justice Minita Chico-Nazario remains vacant after she retired this month from the 15-person tribunal.
“I have no reason to doubt his independent-mindedness,” said Sen. Francis Pangilinan, a member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) and a convenor of the Bantay Korte Suprema. “We had the chance to work with him in the JBC where he sat as part of the secretariat.”
Pangilinan added: “He has had close professional ties with the Chief Justice (Reynato Puno) and this I consider a plus.”
Marquez said Perez was set to take his oath today before Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who received his appointment papers signed by Ms Arroyo on Thursday.
Some of Perez’s last accomplishments as court administrator was ensuring that a judge would handle the multiple murder charges against Andal Ampatuan Jr. in connection with the Maguindanao massacre that claimed at least 57 lives.
After a Quezon City regional trial court judge excused himself from hearing the high-profile and high-risk case, Puno and Perez met with QC magistrates to thresh out security issues.
A re-raffle of the multiple murder case was then ordered by Puno through Perez.
Marquez described Perez as someone who literally rose from the ranks in the high tribunal.
“The appointment of Perez caps an illustrious career of 38 years in government service which started in the Supreme Court, was nurtured there, and by all indications, will end there,” Marquez said.
“This gives him the distinction of being the only appointee in the history of the Supreme Court who literally rose from the ranks in its storied halls,” he added.
Upon finishing his law degree in 1972, Perez was appointed legal assistant in the high court’s Office of the Reporter.
In 1977, he became a confidential attorney in the Office of Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro and in 1987, became a deputy clerk of court.
Perez was promoted to assistant court administrator in 1996 and deputy court administrator in 2000.
He was designated acting court administrator numerous times before his appointment as court administrator in July 2008.
Among his contemporaries in the Supreme Court when he started his career are newly appointed Supreme Justices Roberto Abad and Martin Villarama Jr.
Abad left the Supreme Court and joined the Office of the Solicitor General before going into private practice. Abad was the dean of the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Laws before his appointment to the Supreme Court.
Villarama, on the other hand, left the Supreme Court to become a regional trial court judge. He was later appointed to the Court of Appeals. He was an appellate court justice when he was named to the Supreme Court.
See:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091226-243994/New-SC-justice-completes-rise-through-the-ranks
