INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – After missing the 90-day deadline to fill up the vacancy in the Sandiganbayan, President Benigno Aquino III on Monday appointed Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta as new associate justice of the anti-graft court.
“President Aquino has appointed Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta as new Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan vice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang, who has since been appointed as Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a note to media.
“The appointment was signed on 20 June 2014 and has been transmitted to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. P. Sereno,” he said.
Estoesta served as Manila regional trial court judge before her appointment.
“Before that, she served as presiding judge in the Manila metropolitan trial court. She also served in the Solicitor General’s office from 1991 to 2002,” Coloma added.
Estoesta graduated with a political science degree from De La Salle University and studied law at the Ateneo de Manila University.
“Among her citations are: most outstanding judge for first-level courts in the Supreme Court’s search for judicial excellence (2005); and Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano awardee as most outstanding judge for second-level courts (2012),” Coloma said.
Aquino has recently been criticized for allegedly violating the constitutional provision stating that the President has 90 days to fill up the position from the time the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) submits its short list of candidates.
JBC member Jose Mejia earlier told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that they submitted their shortlist last February 28.
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