CA Justice Jhosep Lopez joins Supreme Court

CA Justice Jhosep Lopez —SCREENGRAB FROM JUDICIAL AND BAR COUNCIL INTERVIEW

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has named Jhosep Lopez, a former prosecutor like him, as the newest member of the Supreme Court, filling the vacancy left by the early retirement of Justice Priscilla Baltazar Padilla, Malacañang announced on Tuesday.

Duterte signed Lopez’s appointment paper on Monday, according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

“The President expects Lopez to uphold judicial independence and the rule of law and to continue reforms in court processes,” Roque said in a press briefing.

Before his appointment to the High Tribunal, Lopez served on the Court of Appeals (CA) where he was appointed in May 2012.

He graduated from University of the Philippines’ College of Law and had served as Manila councilor and chief city prosecutor.

City Hall support

Lopez, who will turn 58 on Feb. 8, was first nominated as a replacement for Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, who retired from the High Tribunal in July that year.

Lopez had the backing of the Manila City Council, which passed a resolution endorsing his appointment to the Court, but the President chose Rodil Zalameda to fill the vacancy left by Del Castillo on the 15-member bench.

Lopez served as councilor of Manila’s third district from 1992 to 1998 and from 2001 to 2006, and later took over the office of Manila’s chief city prosecutor.

On the appellate court, Lopez authored a 2016 decision that reversed a ruling by the Office of the Ombudsman finding former Agriculture Secretary Luis “Cito” Lorenzo Jr. and four others guilty of grave misconduct stemming from a bidding irregularity at Quedan and Rural Credit Guarantee Corp., a government financing agency for farmers.

JPE, Napoles cases

In the same year, he authored the ruling that affirmed the 2013 decision of the Makati Regional Trial Court ordering the Philippine Daily Inquirer to pay former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile P2.75 million in damages over a 2001 news report that tagged him as among those who “plundered the coco levy fund.”

But the appeals court halved the amount to be paid to P1.3 million.

Lopez concurred in the 2016 resolution that nullified the conviction on illegal detention charges of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains behind the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

He also concurred in the 2017 ruling that cleared Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian of any liability in the 2015 fire that killed 74 people at Kentex, a footwear factory.

With Lopez’s appointment, Duterte has now placed 16 people in the Supreme Court. —REPORTS FROM LEILA B. SALAVERRIA AND INQUIRER RESEARCH INQ