Aquino names new CA justices

The Court of Appeals. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino III has appointed Interior Undersecretary Rafael Antonio Santos and two others as new justices of the Court of Appeals.

Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te on Saturday confirmed the appointments of Santos, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Ma. Filomena Singh and Pablito Perez, vice dean of the San Beda College Alabang School of Law and an executive of the Filinvest group of companies.

Malacañang on Friday forwarded the notice of the appointments to Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, who chairs the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), the constitutional body that screens nominees and applicants to top positions in the judiciary.

The three will take over the posts vacated by Justices Rosalinda Asuncion-Vicente, Angelita Gacutan and Pampilo Abarintos who all retired.

The JBC came out with a list of 22 nominees for the seats in December.

Earlier, Santos drew criticism when he applied for the position of Sandiganbayan presiding justice.

Santos, who served as defense undersecretary in the Arroyo administration, was the election lawyer of then Sen. Mar Roxas when the latter ran for vice president in 2010 but lost. When Roxas was appointed transportation secretary in 2011, he picked Santos to be undersecretary for operations.

Santos then followed Roxas to the Department of Interior and Local Government, becoming undersecretary for operations and public safety.

Last year, Santos was screened by the JBC for the position of Sandiganbayan presiding justice. His application, however, was criticized by several individuals, including Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco of the United Nationalist Alliance, because of his links to Roxas, who was defeated by now Vice President Jejomar Binay.

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