Online interview for 10 SC aspirants set
THE Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has scheduled an online interview for seven aspirants eyeing the associate justice seat of Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo.
The JBC will interview on June 2 seven candidates namely private law practitioner Benedicta A. Du Balabad, Sandiganbayan Associate Justices Geraldine Faith A. Econg and Rafael R. Lagos, and Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Ronaldo Roberto B. Martin.
To be interviewed on June 3 are Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Alex L. Quiroz, Finance Undersecretary Antonette C. Tionko, and Deputy Court Administrator Raul B. Villanueva.
The eight other applicants whose previous JBC interviews are still valid are Court Administrator Jose Midas P. Marquez; CA Associate Justices Nina G. Antonio Valenzuela, Apolinario D. Bruselas Jr., Ramon A. Cruz, Japar B. Dimaampao, and Maria Filomena D. Singh; Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje Tang, and former Ateneo de Manila University law dean Sedfrey M. Candelaria.
The JBC is constitutionally mandated to screen applicants for vacant posts in the judiciary and the Offices of the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman.
Gesmundo was appointed chief justice by President Duterte following the early retirement of Diosdado Peralta.
Gesmundo earned his law degree from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1984. After passing the Bar Examinations in 1985, he entered government service as Trial Attorney in the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
He was awarded Most Outstanding Solicitor in 1998. In 2002, he was promoted to Assistant Solicitor General. While working for the OSG, he was appointed Commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) from July 1998 to February 2001.
After 20 years with the OSG, Gesmundo was appointed associate justice of the Sandiganbayan on October 15, 2005. He served as Chairperson of its 7th Division and as co-Chairperson of the anti-graft’s Committee on Rules until he was named to the high court. He was examiner in Remedial Law in the 2009 and 2015 Bar Examinations.
Gesmundo will mandatorily retire when he turns 70 on November 6, 2026.
