Who is Menardo Guevarra, Duterte’s next secretary of justice?

President Rodrigo Duterte's next secretary of justice was a ranking Malacañang official not only under his administration but also under that of his predecessor former President Benigno Aquino III.

Erstwhile Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra was also a deputy of Aquino's Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa and was a member of two panels that had contrasting fates under the previous regime.

The second placer in the 1985 bar examinations and a staffer of the 1987 Constitutional Commission, Guevarra in 2010 was named to the Truth Commission that Aquino envisioned would investigate alleged corruption under the Arroyo administration.

The Supreme Court, however, would uphold petitions that questioned the constitutionality of the commission.

Years later in 2015 as Aquino's deputy executive secretary for legal affairs, Guevarra would be named to the top-level panel that would argue the Philippines' case against China's excessive claims in the South China Sea.

The panel would prove successful as the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague on July 12, 2016 invalidated Beijing’s claims in the disputed waters.

Duterte, however, would set aside the ruling, opting instead of carry on a cordial relationship with China while maintaining the country's claims.

Guevarra's career in government service began at the National Economic and Development Authority and the Central Bank, while he took up law at the Ateneo de Manila University.

He had graduated from the Ateneo with a political science degree in 1974 and taken up graduate studies in Economics at the University of the Philippines, according to a profile on the school's website.

He placed second in the 1985 Bar examinations and then set to work with the framers of the 1987 Constitution before entering private law practice and teaching at his alma mater.

In May 2015, he was named Deputy Executive Secretary for legal affairs at the Office of the President and in February 2016 was named commissioner of the Philippine Competition Commission.

He specializes in civil and criminal law and in administrative litigation.

Guevarra replaced Aguirre after President Rodrigo Duterte accepted the erstwhile Justice chief's resignation, days after rumors swirled that the controversial Aguirre was on his way out.

Aguirre had been the subject of criticism and even presidential disappointment following a panel of state prosecutors' dismissal of charges against suspected drug personalities, one of whom had confessed at the Senate to distributing drugs and one of whom was a convicted drug lord.

Guevarra took his oath before Duterte early Thursday evening.

Aguirre has yet to release a statement on his resignation. —NB, GMA News