Bersamin named new Supreme Court justice

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo has appointed Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin as associate justice of the Supreme Court (SC), replacing Justice Adolfo Azcuna who retired from the judiciary last February.

SC spokesman Jose Midas Marquez announced the appointment of Bersamin as the 163rd justice of the High Court after receiving the official letter from the Palace at around 11 a.m.

Bersamin was reportedly Malacañang’s choice to replace Azcuna.

Earlier, Bersamin admitted that he is close to President Arroyo’s cousin, Erlinda de Leon, and her husband, Carlos de Leon. However, he has vowed not to let his closeness with the two impinge on his judicial independence.

His bid to the SC is also supported by Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta, who was appointed to the High Court as replacement of retired Justice Ruben Reyes last January.

Bersamin was also the candidate chosen by the eight-man Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), which endorsed him to the Palace last month. The other choices of the JBC were Court of Appeals Associate Justices Martin Villarama Jr. and Hakim Abdulwahid and Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Francisco Villaruz.

In a statement, the new SC justice expressed gratitude for his appointment.

“I feel honored and humbled by this great opportunity given to a humble public servant that I have been. I am very grateful to the Supreme Court, the Judicial and Bar Council, and President Arroyo for believing that I am worthy of the trust to be among the 15 wise magistrates of the highest court of the land,” he said.

Bersamin, 60, also vowed “to serve as a jurist mindful of the great tradition that the Supreme Court has to serve God, country, and people.”

He is set to take his oath of office this morning before Chief Justice Reynato Puno, according to Marquez.

Prior to his SC appointment, Bersamin served as CA Associate Justice since March 2003. Before that, he was the Presiding Judge of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, Branch 96, a post which he held since November 1986. He was engaged in private legal practice before he was appointed as judge.

He was also recipient of the Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos Award (Outstanding RTC Judge for 2002) during the 11th Judicial Excellence Awards (JEA). In the 2000 JEA, he bagged the Best Decision in Civil Law and Best Decision in Criminal Law awards.

He finished his law studies at the University of the East in 1973 and placed ninth in the Bar examinations given that same year with an average of 86.3 percent.

He got 100 percent in criminal law, one of the eight Bar subjects. He is a fellow at the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute in Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.

He is a member of the Sub-Committee on Evidence of the Supreme Court’s Committee on Revision of the Rules of Court. He is also a member of the CA Committee on Rules and the Planning Committee, Remedial Law & CriminalLaw of the UP Law Center-Institute of Judicial Administration.

He is a lecturer and acting chair of the Remedial Law Department of the Philippine Judicial Academy, the SC’s education arm. He is also a professor at the Ateneo School of Law and UE College of Law. He was special lecturer at the College of Law, University of Cebu in 2006. He is both Bar reviewer and a professor at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law.

Born on Oct. 18, 1949 in Bangued, Abra, Justice Bersamin is married to Aurora Bagares-Bersamin, with whom he has four children.