MANILA – A perennial candidate has finally achieved his dream of making it as associate justice of the Philippine Supreme Court (SC) on his ninth try.
He is senior Justice Martin Villarama Jr. of the Court of Appeals who took his oath as the newest SC member, replacing Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago who retired in October after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.
Villarama, 63, is the 166th High Court member even as another vacancy remains in the high tribunal following the retirement of Justice Leonardo Quisumbing on November 3, according to the SC office of public information.
Villarama was a perennial nominee by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) and has been nominated at least nine times. He is the husband of lawyer Luisa Dizon-Villarama, the clerk of court of the Supreme Court “en banc” (as a whole).
The JBC, chaired by the chief justice, is the constitutional body mandated to screen applicants to the SC. After interviewing applicants and after deliberation, it taks a vote and submits to Malacanang a list of at least three nominees for very vacancy.
With Villarama’s appointment, the SC is now known as the “Arroyo Supreme Court” because all the sitting members have been appointees of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, except Chief Justice Renato Puno.
Puno was appointed to the SC by then president Fidel Ramos but he was appointed chief justice by President Arroyo in 2006,
Villarama began his law career as technical assistant in the Legal and Research Division, now the Office of the Chief Attorney of the SC.
Before rejoining the judiciary in 1986, Villarama worked as legal counsel and corporate secretary of several companies in Metro Manila.
He was appointed judge of the Regional Trial Court of suburban Pasig City, Metro Manila in 1986 and served as executive judge from 1992 to 1996.
In March 1998, Villarama was promoted to the Court of Appeals where he served as presiding chairman of the fifth division and supervising justice in the Judicial Records Division.
During the appellate court’s 71st anniversary in 2007, Villarama was recognized by his peers as one of the justices with the least number of pending cases.
Meanwhile, Congressman Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin of suburban Makati City, Metro Manila is one of the nominees of the Judicial and Bar Council to another vacant SC position, with the retirement of Justice Leonardo Quisumbing on November 3.
Locsin, a lawyer and former newspaper publisher, is now on his third and final term as a member of the House of Representatives.
He was named among the candidates in the senatorial ticket of former president Joseph Estrada who is running for president in the ay 2010 elections.
But Locsin said he agreed to run under the Estrada ticket out of friendship but added he is realistic about his chances of winning any of the 12 slots at stake in the senatorial race.
According to Locsin, he is better off aspiring for a high position in another branch of government like the High Court as he pointed out: “It’s time to use my brain at its full capacity before I get too old and lose it altogether.”
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