Tijam appointed to panel vetting Judiciary nominees

MANILA, Philippines — Retired Supreme Court Justice Noel Tijam is  joining the Judicial and Bar Council, the panel that screens nominees to the Judiciary and the Office of the Ombudsman.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, a JBC member by virtue of his position, confirmed that Tijam has been appointed to the JBC as a representative of the academe.

Guevarra stressed that Tijam’s designation would have to be confirmed by the Commission on Appointments.

Tijam would join JBC regular members former Justice Jose Mendoza for the retired SC sustices, Maria Milagros Fernan-Cayosa for the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and Toribio Ilao Jr. representing the private sector.

Tijam profile

Tijam is Duterte’s second appointee to the SC. He retired from his post in January 2019.

Tijam’s profile at the SC website states that he is a Professional Lecturer II for Remedial Law at the Philippine Judicial Academy (Philja), Supreme Court.

According to SC Public Information Chief Brian Hosaka, Tijam also taught Business Law, Philosophy and Political Science at the Philippine School of Business Administration from 1969 to 1976.

He also lectures on Pre-trial and Trial Skills, Searches and Seizure, Legal Ethics, Oral Advocacy, Legal Writing and Remedial Law in seminars organized by the Philja, the UP Law Center, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and several law firms under their Mandatory Continuing Legal Education program.

During his stint at the high court, Tijam penned the historic ruling on the government’s quo warranto petition that ousted former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as head of the Judiciary.

READ: Tijam honored for quo warranto ruling, other decisions penned

He also wrote the ruling that junked the petition of Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines challenging Republic Act 10932 or the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law due to the petitioners’ lack of legal standing.

In June last year, the SC’s First Division dismissed the Presidential Commission on Good Government’s appeal against the Sandiganbayan’s decision dismissing the government’s P51-billion claim from the estate of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies.

Tijam wrote the main decision.