Midas Marquez named SC spokesman anew

Court Administrator and associate justice candidate Jose Midas Marquez has been named anew as concurrent spokesperson of the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin on Monday said he was bringing Marquez back to the Public Information Office (PIO), adding he thinks the court official can help him "varnish the image of the courts and varnish my image as chief justice."

President Rodrigo Duterte's second chief justice appointee, Bersamin will lead the Philippine judiciary until October 2019, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Marquez has previously served as concurrent court administrator, spokesperson and chief of the SC's PIO and chief of staff of the Office of the Chief Justice during the term of retired chief justice Reynato Puno.

He was also spokesperson during the time of the late former chief justice Renato Corona.

Marquez, along with 19 others, is applying for the associate justice's seat that Justice Noel Tijam will vacate once he retires on January 5, 2019. He has previously been shortlisted for earlier court vacancies.

The current acting SC spokesperson, Maria Victoria Gleoresty Guerra, has signified her intention to vie for a chief attorney's post in the court, Bersamin said.

Guerra took over from Theodore Te, who resigned after Teresita Leonardo-De Castro was appointed chief justice. — Nicole-Anne C. Lagrimas/RSJ, GMA News