Three vacancies at SC as Velasco retires
Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Presbitero J. Velasco Jr. retires at midnight today after serving the judiciary for 20 years and sets a record in the SC’s history by disposing of all judicial and administrative cases assigned to him.
Tomorrow, Velasco turns 70, the mandatory retirement age for members of the judiciary increasing to three the number of vacancies in the High Court.
This afternoon, SC justices will honor Velasco in a retirement ceremony at the SC followed by a retirement dinner at the historic landmark Manila Hotel.
Velasco finished his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science degree at the University of the Philippines where he also received his Bachelor of Laws degree at age 22 and ranked eighth in his class.
He placed sixth in the 1971 bar examinations with a weighted average rating of 89.85 percent.
Immediately, Velasco engaged in law practice for 20 years and became active in the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), the mandatory association of lawyers, and the Philippine Jaycees. He was the 1987 IBP national president.
Before his top post in the IBP, he was its vice president for Luzon and president of its Cavite Chapter.
Manila Bay cleanup Justice Velasco’s decision in the MMDA case introduced for the first time in the Philippine legal system the “writ of continuing mandamus” or “continuing court interference” scheme to ensure that the dispositive directives set forth in the decision are implemented.
The decision in MMDA directed 10 government agencies to rehabilitate and restore Manila Bay to its former condition which will make it fit for swimming and other contact recreation and perpetually maintain the good water quality of the bay. Up until his retirement, Justice Velasco chaired the Manila Bay Advisory Committee which monitored and supervised the Implementation of the MMDA decision for more than nine years.
At the same time, the MMDA decision resulted in the formulation of the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases, which gained worldwide acknowledgement as the only existing one of its kind. The Rules also established the environment protection writ (Writ of Kalikasan) which allowed the SC to provide immediate relief to address damages to the environment without need to pay filing fees.