Fiscal appointed as new RTC judge

A NEW judge was appointed by Malacañang Palace for the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Cebu.

Asst. City Prosecutor Alexander Acosta will be assigned in RTC Branch 9 which has been vacant for over two years.

Acosta has yet to receive his appointment papers but was notified by officials of the Judicial and Bar Council and Malacañang about his promotion.

“This is really my ambition. I told the Lord to make me an instrument of peace, justice and love,” said Acosta.

A native of Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, the 41-year-old Acosta will take his oath before Associate Justice Gabriel Ingles of the Court of Appeals on May 28.

As a policy, he said he and his staff in the RTC won’t receive “gifts” from anyone. “Do not put your office at risk. (We) should not be grateful to politicians even if they have helped us in a way. Don’t tempt yourself to give a gift, I will insult you,” he said.

Acosta finished Economics at the Letran College in Manila. He finished his law studies at the University of the East in 1996. Acosta passed the bar exams the following year.

He worked with the Land Registration Authority in 1998 before he was appointed assistant city prosecutor in Cebu City in 2004. Acosta is married to a Cebuana, Rosalinda, the daughter of former RTC Judge Aproniano Taypin. They have two daughters.

Acosta filled the vacancy left by Judge Geraldine Faith Econg who was appointed director of the Program Management Office of the Supreme Court in 2010.

When she left, three acting judges took over her post: RTC Judges Olegario Sarmiento, James Himalaloan and Soliver Peras. Reporter Ador Vincent Mayol