DOJ Secretary Caguioa appointed to Supreme Court

Justice Secretary Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa has been appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by President Benigno Aquino III.

The appointment letter was posted by the Supreme Court's Public Information Office on Friday.

"On behalf of the Members of the Court, I welcome Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa to the Court. I am happy that we are once again a complete Court as there is a lot of work to be done which I expect Justice Caguioa to actively take part in," said Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in a statement.

Caguioa will be taking over the post vacated by Associate Justice Martin Villarama last January 16 because of health reasons.

He is Aquino's sixth appointee to the highest tribunal following Sereno and Associate Justices Marvic Leonen, Bienvenido Reyes, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, and Francis Jardeleza.

Aquino selected Caguioa from the final list provided by the Judicial and Bar Council. The shortlist also included Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes Jr., Associate Justices Jose Reyes Jr. and Justice Apolinario Bruselas, and former Commission on Audit Chair Maria Gracia Pulido-Tan.

PNoy's classmate

During his public interview, Caguioa was grilled about his relationship with President Benigno Aquino III, who was his classmate from grade school to college.

The JBC brought to Caguioa’s attention a letter opposing his nomination for the SC, which claimed Caguioa would be "protecting the interest" of Aquino and everybody in his outgoing administration if the Justice Secretary becomes an SC magistrate.

In response, Caguioa said: "My father was a judge. I know how a judicial mind thinks. As a judge, I will wear an altogether different hat," he told the council.

"As judge, I will be confined to what the facts are and what the law is," Caguioa said, even as he assured the public that "there is no bias or inclination in whatever facts is presented to me and whatever law to apply." —JST, GMA News