CA Justice Jhosep Lopez appointed to Supreme Court

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Court of Appeals Justice Jhosep Lopez to the Supreme Court (SC).

Lopez is filling the spot vacated by Justice Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla, who retired last year at 62, eight years ahead of the mandatory retirement age for justices and judges. 

The SC approved Baltazar-Padilla's application for disability retirement last November. 

Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque said the President expects the new SC justice to uphold the rule of law and judicial independence as well as continue the reforms in court processes. 

Lopez has repeatedly applied for an SC post. The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has also included him in its shortlist of nominees several times. He is a former Manila City councilor and government prosecutor.  

His appointment completes the 15-member roster of the highest Philippine court, but another seat will be vacant when Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta retires in March. 

The JBC has opened applications for Peralta's seat.

Lopez, who turns 58 in February, will serve 12 more years in the court before he has to retire. 

He was in the CA for almost nine years and was the senior member of the Fifth Division, according to the SC Public Information Office. 

Lopez was the chief legal consultant to then-Health Secretary Felipe Estrella in 1998 until he was appointed the country's first agriculture attaché to Beijing.

He was the chief legal counsel of the Senate under then-Senate President Jovito Salonga in 1991. 

From 1993 to 2006, he served as a partner at Lopez Rasul Maliwanag Baybay Palaran Law Offices. 

He has also taught law in schools such as the University of the Philippines, the New Era University, and the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. 

Lopez earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from UP.

He also worked as the university's legal counsel for a year before being promoted as chief legal officer of the UP Manila-Philippine General Hospital. —With a report from Virgil Lopez/KG, GMA News