SC Justice Villarama seeks early retirement due to deteriorating health

Supreme Court Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr. has applied for early retirement due to his "deteriorating" health condition.

In a letter to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and the rest of his fellow magistrates, Villarama said he wanted to go on optional retirement effective January 16, 2016, under Republic Act No. 910, as amended by RA 5095 and RA 9946.

"This request is being made for reason of the undersigned's deteriorating health condition brought about by his double-knee metal implantation in 2013 and his cataract operation last year.

For several years, Villarama said he has been experiencing difficulty in breathing, and has hypertension and symptoms of prostate illness prevalent among aging men.

Villarama would have completed 28 years, two months and eight days of judicial service by January 16, 2016, lacking only two months and 29 days to reach the mandatory age of 70 for compulsory retirement from the judiciary on April 14, 2016.

He served as Regional Trial Court judge for more than 11 years, from November 5, 1986 to April 5, 1998. He then served as Court of Appeals justice for a decade from April 6, 1998 to November 6, 2009.

Villarama was finally appointed to the SC on November 7, 2009 by former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He also served as examiner in the 2004 Bar examinations.

Prior to becoming a judge, Villarama served as a technical assistant, legal assistant and a judicial assistant at the Supreme Court from 1970 to 1978.

Administrative Circular No. 58-2003 allows earned leave credits to be tacked to the length of judicial service to increase the longevity pay of justices and judges who reached the age of compulsory retirement.

Even if his retirement would be considered optional, and no longer compulsory, Villarama still asked the SC to apply AC 58-2003 to him.

If his leave credits of five years and three months would be credited to him, his longevity pay would constitute 33 percent of his basic monthly salary. —KG, GMA News