Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra has been nominated for a Supreme Court associate justice’s post that will be left vacant when Associate Justice Jose Reyes reaches his mandatory retirement age of 70 years old on September 18, 2020.
In a two-page letter to Judicial and Bar Council, retired Associate Justice Raoul Victorino recommended Guevarra’s nomination to the SC post, saying the Justice Secretary “possesses the necessary credentials, professional experience and the motivation to discharge the duties of an associate justice of the Supreme Court.”
This would be the second time that Victorino nominated Guevarra to the SC post. The first time was in October 2019 when then Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta was appointed chief justice.
Guevarra had declined the nomination, saying he was “still in love with the DOJ (Department of Justice)" but intimated that the SC will always be in his mind.
If appointed to the SC, the Justice Secretary, who is 66 years old, still has four years before reaching the mandatory retirement age for justices.
According to Victorino, he believes that Guevarra will find his “true love” on the other side of Padre Faura Street, referring to the SC Building
“This time, I believe, Guevarra, in replying to his previous nomination to the High Court, intimated that he is still in love with the Department of Justice. This statement merely exemplifies the loyalty and dedication of the man, to public service and the pursuit of justice, in our Republic,” Victorino said.
“This time, I believe, is that he will meet his true love to the other side part of Padre Faura, Manila. May his love for justice move the Secretary of Justice to the glorious and historic halls of the Supreme Court,” he added.
Last May 23, the JBC started accepting applications of candidates for the post to be vacated by Justice Reyes.
“This is a man of justice” Victorino said, in describing the DOJ chief.
As Secretary of Justice, Guevarra is also an ex-officio member of the JBC.
“In my decades of public service until today, I have known the incumbent DOJ Secretary Guevarra as a dedicated public servant with an unblemished record,” said Victorino.
“I have known Secretary Guevarra to be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity and independence and his sense of patriotism through his socio-civic engagements. I believe that he possesses the necessary credentials, professional experience and the motivation to discharge the duties as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court,” he added.
Before joining the DOJ, Guevarra was an Office of the President Oversight Representative of Executive Secretary in several National Economic and Development Authority Cabinet-level committee.
He was also an accredited arbitrator of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a member of the Philippine legal team in the West Philippine Sea arbitration case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.
Guevarra graduated second honor from the Ateneo School of Law and placed second in the 1985 Bar examination.