President Benigno Aquino III administers the oath of office of the newly appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Marvic Leonen at the President’s Hall at Malacañang on Wednesday. PHOTO/ MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU
MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers at the House of Representatives on Thursday hailed appointment of the government’s chief negotiator Marvic Leonen as the Supreme Court’s newest associate justice, saying he will help initiate reforms in the judiciary.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he had no doubt that Leonen was more than qualified for the job, assuring that the government surely had “bases covered in the Bangsamo framework agreement” despite its chief negotiator’s new assignment.
Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., chairman of the House committee on justice, said Leonen “would no doubt bring dynamism and contribute to current efforts towards judicial reform.”
Leonen’s “exemplary track record, both in public service as a UP professor and his advocacies for social reforms, is a welcome and value-added addition to the judiciary,” according to Cibac Partylist Representative Sherwin Tugna.
He feels that the newly appointed justice will “add to the stability of the rule of law to our country.”
The appointment was also “a victory for the academe, a sector in the legal community that has been neglected in the last 15 years by the Supreme Court appointments due to its lack of political clout,” Marikina City Representative Miro Quimbo pointed out.
Quimbo, vice chairman of the justice committee and a former student of Leonen, said that the new associate justice was deserving of the new appointment due to his “unquestionable integrity and often admired legal astuteness.”