Marikina judge named to Sandigan

President Arroyo has appointed Marikina City Presiding Judge Alex de Leon Quiroz as Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan to replace Justice Diosdado Peralta, who was promoted as presiding justice of the anti-graft court.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Mrs. Arroyo signed Quiroz’s appointment papers on Dec. 5 after he was nominated by the Judicial and Bar Council last Sept. 8.

Quiroz, 51, handled the Nida Blanca murder case, and handed down the guilty verdict against Abu Sayyaf leader Hector Janjalani for kidnapping American Muslim convert Jeffrey Schilling in 2001.

He is married to Manila Bulletin reporter Evelyn Quiroz, with whom he has two sons, Jose Emilio and Jose Resurreccion, and a daughter, Maria Amelia.

Quiroz finished his elementary and high school at the Letran College and obtained his Bachelor in Science degree from the University of the East in 1979.

He took up law at the Manuel L. Quezon University immediately after graduating from college and passed the bar in 1983.

Quiroz practiced law for a year and became special counsel to the Office of the City Fiscal of Manila until 1987.