New SC justice takes oath, votes vs watchlist order

MANILA, Philippines - Newly appointed Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes of the Supreme Court (SC) took his oath yesterday.

Accompanied by his family and colleagues in the judiciary, Reyes vowed independence from the appointing authority amid reports that he has been a long-time friend of President Aquino.

“My first order of business is to attend the en banc,” he told reporters on the sidelines of his swearing in.

The magistrate immediately demonstrated his independence when he voted against the administration’s move to put former first gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo in the immigration watchlist.

Reyes joined 12 other justices present during deliberations in issuing a temporary restraining order on the watchlist order issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against Arroyo.

Handpicked by the President from a list of six nominees from the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), Reyes replaces Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura who retired from the High Court last June 13.

Reyes is 64 years old, which means he has six years to sit in the High Court. He is the President’s second appointee to the SC, the first being Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

He had worked in private practice from 1975 and served as the finance manager of the Best Security Agency Inc. (BSA), the security agency set up by President Aquino when his late mother was president, from 1987 to 1990.

The President has yet to name another appointee to the High Court who would take the place of retired Associate Justice and now Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.

The remaining five nominees in the shortlist are: Court of Appeals (CA) Justices Jose Reyes Jr., Magdangal de Leon, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Japar Dimaampao; and businessman-lawyer Rodolfo Robles.

The JBC shortlist was already meant for selection for the two vacancies, but the Palace only picked one from the six.

It was earlier reported that President Aquino was having a hard time choosing the second appointee from the other five nominees since they all have purported links to the former administration.

A graduate of San Beda College of Law in 1971, Reyes worked as vice-president for Legal and Corporate Affairs of the R.C. Silverio Group of Companies from 1975 to 1981.

In 1982, he founded a Makati-based law firm, Reyes Daway Lim Bernardo Lindo and Rosales. He also served as the board secretary of the National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. and chairman of the board of Celebrity Sports Plaza.

He joined the judiciary in July 1990 as presiding judge of Malabon regional trial court before he was appointed Associate Justice to the CA on Aug. 8, 2000.

Reyes was a recipient of the most outstanding alumnus award in 1998 from his high school, Colegio de San Pascual Baylon; and most outstanding Obandeño in the field of Law in 2003. He was also a finalist in the 1997 Awards for Judicial Excellence.