President Benigno Aquino 3rd has appointed Justice Secretary Benjamin Caguioa as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
Caguioa got the most number of votes from the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).
He was nominated to the JBC by UP College of Law Dean Danilo Concepcion and Ateneo Law Dean Sedfrey Candelaria.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. transmitted Caguioa’s appointment to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in a letter dated January 22, 2016.
Aquino signed the appointment of Caguioa on January 20.
The Justice chief replaces Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr., who retired on January 16.
Caguioa is expected to attend the High Court’s en banc session on Tuesday when oral arguments on disqualification cases filed against Sen. Grace Poe will be heard.
Caguioa is the sixth appointee of Aquino to the High Court.
The President earlier appointed Sereno and Justices Bienvenido Reyes, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Marvic Leonen and Francis Jardeleza.
Caguioa took up economics and later law at the Ateneo, where he was a classmate and close friend of Ochoa, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares and Sen. Teofisto Guingona 3rd, among many others.
He was also a former classmate of the President.
Caguioa was a senior partner of the Caguioa and Gatmaytan law office. Prior to passing the Bar in 1986, he obtained his law degree from the Ateneo de Manila law school in 1985.
With CATHERINE S. VALENTE