Cebuanos back Hormachuelos for SC associate justice post

Court of Appeals Associate Justice Portia Alinio-Hormachuelos got the support of her fellow Cebuanos in her nomination to fill the vacant post of associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Hormachuelos, who was in Cebu yesterday, said she was gratified that her accomplishments got the nod of the Judicial and Bar Council that nominated her to the SC post along with four others.

She will vie against the other nominees: Secretary Arturo Brion of the Department of Labor and Employment, CA Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr., and Sandiganbayan Associate Justices Francisco Villaruz Jr. and Edilberto Sandoval.

“I am the only nominee with zero backlog records for the past seven years. And since I am the lone woman nominee, it is my edge considering the vacancy is vacated by a woman associate justice in the person of Justice Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez,” Hormachuelos said.

Hormachuelos, chairman of the Third Division of the CA, has been an advocate of speedy dispensation of justice. She holds the distinction of maintaining, since May 2001, a zero or single-digit pending docket of cases submitted for decision.

This year she was honored as Cebuana Trailblazer by the Cebu provincial government in recognition of her role as Speedy Justice Advocate.

She had written 1,728 ponencias since her promotion to the CA in August 1995. For eight years before that, she was a Regional Trial Court judge and was honored with the 1992 Cayetano Arellano Award for Judicial Excellence as Outstanding RTC Judge in the Philippines.

In 2004, she was conferred with the Outstanding Alumna Award in the field of Judicial Reforms and Legal Advocacy for Women by the University of the Philippines Cebu College.

On June 2002, Hormachuelos was a recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award for Government Service by the University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance.

She also received other awards including the Plaque of Distinguished Service, Career Executive Service Board; Award of Recognition from the Crusade Against Violence; Gintong Ina (1999); Asian Mother-Achiever for Law and Judiciary, 2003; Outstanding Service in the Judiciary, Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Cebu Chapter.

Hormachuelos, who had served in the justice system as a jurist, prosecutor, public attorney and corrections officer, graduated magna cum laude in law at the University of the Visayas in 1963.  —Jasmin R. Uy/RAE