Duterte appoints Taguig judge to Sandiganbayan

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Taguig Regional Trial Court Judge Lorifel L. Pahimna to the Sandiganbayan.

Pahimna will fill the post vacated by Associate Justice Napoleon E. Inoturan who retired early in August last year.

The transmittal letter on Pahimna’s appointment which was signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea was received by the Supreme Court on April 18.

Pahimna was admitted to the Bar on May 30, 1987.

Her notable decisions include the annulment of marriage of actress Carmina Villaruel and actor Rustom Padilla, she also denied the temporary protection order of model Deniece Cornejo.

In December 2007, she also convicted 12 Abu Sayyaf members for kidnapping 20 people from Dos Palmas resort in Puerto Princesa in Palawan in May 2001. Among those abducted tourist were Peruvian-American Guillermo Sobero and American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham.

In 2008, Pahimna was among the three Regional Trial Court judges recognized by the Supreme Court for their outstanding performance in the Judiciary.

Pahimna was given the Jose Abad Santos award.

Last year, she convicted a woman for pimping out minors including her own 10-year old daughter at a cybersex den.