Newly-appointed Sandiganbayan Justice Fernandez starts work next week

Newly-appointed Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan, Sarah Jane Fernandez, is set to assume her post as the junior member of the anti-graft court’s Third Division starting next week.

 

In press conference on Thursday, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, who also serves as chair of the Third Division, said Fernandez will take over from Third Division junior member Associate Justice Alex Quiroz, who will be moving on to the Fourth Division as its senior member.

 

The Third Division hears every Friday the petition to post bail of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, who is facing a plunder case stemming from the alleged multibillion-peso pork barrel scam.

 

But before sitting at the hearings of pending cases before the Third Division, Tang said Fernandez is supposed “to sit as warm body” in the Fifth Division’s scheduled hearing of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s petition to post bail for plunder.

 

Tang said Fifth Division member Associate Justice Alexander Gesmundo will be on leave on that day.

 

“So, that will serve as the first hearing she will attend here at Sandiganbayan,” Tang said.

 

It was on Saturday when Malacañang announced the appointment of Fernandez to the Sandiganbayan to fill a vacancy after the Supreme Court ordered the dismissal of Associate Justice Gregory Ong.

 

Ong was removed from office last year due to his alleged links with Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the pork barrel scam.

 

It was during Ong’s chairmanship of the Sandiganbayan Fourth Division when Napoles was acquitted of malversation through falsification of public documents in connection with the alleged anomalous purchase of overpriced Kevlar helmets for the Philippine Army.

 

Tang said that prior to Fernandez’ appointment to the Sandiganbayan, the latter served as trial lawyer at the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for more than 20 years.

 

“She rose from the ranks at the Office of the Solicitor General, starting as Trial Attorney I, then (Trial Lawyer) II and III until she was appointed as the Assistant Solicitor General in 2006,” Tang said.

 

Tang said Fernandez held that post until her appointment to the Sandiganbayan.

 

Tang said that during her stint at the OSG, Fernandez handled cases concerning the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the late former President Ferdinand Marcos and his cronies.

 

Tang said Fernandez was also part of the team who built up the arbitration case that the Philippine government filed against China before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal in relation to territorial claims over the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea.

 

A graduate of the Ateneo School of Law, Fernandez obtained her Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and has also taught Taxation Law at the University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Law.

 

Asked what advice she wants to give to the 46-year-old Fernandez, Tang said: “I would like to advise her to always rule in accordance with law and evidence.”

 

“I always advise those who work in this court to live by that mantra,” Tang said, adding that she briefly worked with Fernandez at the OSG in 2012 before her appointment at the Sandiganbayan.  — ELR/KG, GMA News