Guevarra nominated anew to SC seat

FILE: Secretary Menardo Guevarra during a press briefing in Malacañang TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

MANILA – A retired anti-graft court magistrate has nominated Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra for the position of associate justice of the Supreme Court (SC).

In a letter to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) dated June 22 but was only released on Monday, retired Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Raoul V. Victorino asked the body to consider Guevarra, whom he described as a “man of justice”, as next magistrate of the high court.

“I have known Secretary Guevarra to be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence, and his sense of patriotism through his socio-civic engagements.

I believe that he possesses the necessary credentials, professional experience, and the motivation to discharge the duties as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court,” Victorino said.

Another seat in the 15-member High Court will be vacant upon the mandatory retirement of Associate Justice Jose Reyes on September 18.

Before he was named Justice Secretary, Guevarra served as Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (Desla) of the Office of the President.

He also served as oversight representative of the Office of the Executive Secretary in various National Economic and Development Authority cabinet-level committees.

He was also an accredited arbitrator of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and a member of the Philippine legal team in the West Philippine Sea arbitration case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Guevarra, a graduate of the Ateneo School of Law and second placer in the 1985 Bar examination, earlier declined his previous nomination to the High Court in November last year.