DOJ head endorsed for SC associate justice post
Believing that Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo Guevarra possesses the credentials as well as the experience, a retired Sandiganbayan associate justice recommended him to the position of Supreme Court (SC) associate justice.
Former Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Raoul Victorino submitted a one-page letter to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) formally endorsing Secretary Guevarra for the position of SC associate justice, that became vacant when Diosdado Peralta was chosen by President Duterte as the 26th Chief Justice last Oct. 23.
“In my decade number of public service until today, I have known the incumbent DOJ Secretary Guevarra as a dedicated public servant with unblemished records,” said Victorino.
“I believe that he (Guevarra) possesses the necessary credentials, professional experience and the motivation to discharge the duties as an Associate Justice of the Supreme 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,” he added.
Guevarra once served as the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs (DESLA) at the Office of the President prior to his appointment as DOJ Secretary.
“As DESLA he reviewed all legal matters under the Office of the President including appeals from certain quasi-judicial agency of the government, investigation and resolution of administrative and disciplinary cases involving presidential appointees and high-ranking officials and all executive issuances and presidential actions on matters of government administration,” Victorino said.
Before joining the DOJ, Guevarra was an Office of the President oversight representative of the Executive Secretary in several National Economic and Development Authority Cabinet-level committee.
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 at the Hague.