PNoy appoints Manila RTC judge as new Sandiganbayan justice

(Updated 4:45 p.m.) President Benigno Aquino III has appointed Ma. Theresa Dolores Gomez-Estoesta as the new associate justice of the Sandiganbayan, a Palace official said Monday.

A presiding judge at the Manila Regional Trial Court since 2006, Estoesta replaces Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang, who has been named presiding justice of the anti-graft court.

Aquino signed Estoesta's appointment papers on June 20, and these have been transmitted to Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr. said In a statement on Monday.

Estoesta served as a presiding judge at the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court, and also worked at the Office of the Solicitor General from 1991 to 2002.

In 2012, she was named the Chief Justice Cayetano Arellano awardee for being the most outstanding judge for second-level courts. She was also cited as the most outstanding judge for first-level courts in the Supreme Court’s search for judicial excellence in 2005.
 
She obtained her political science degree from De La Salle University and her law degree from Ateneo de Manila University.

JBC Controversy

Estoesta's appointment came after the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) refused to review the list of Sandiganbayan justice nominees it submitted to the President.

The JBC is constitutionally mandated to screen and vet nominees for vacant posts in the judiciary, as well as the Offices of the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman. The President is required to pick from the shortlist drafted by the JBC within 90 days.

Aquino received the shortlist on February 28, which means he only had until May 28 to pick an appointee.

But the Palace said the connection of one of the nominees to Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, one of the senators charged with plunder and graft before the Sandiganbayan, should be reviewed by the JBC, along with the affiliations of other nominees.

The JBC said, however,  that the Constitution does not allow such a review even under special circumstances.

The other nominees on the JBC's shortlist were Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Maryann Corpus-Manalac, Quezon City RTC Judge Bernelito Fernandez, Antipolo RTC Judge Ronaldo Martin, Makati RTC Judge Andres Soriano, Department of Justice Chief State Counsel Ricardo Paras III, DOJ Undersecretary Leah Armamento, and Assistant Solicitor General Marissa Macaraig Guillen.

Fernandez was the nominee previously nominated by Enrile. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ/JDS/YA, GMA News