Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla retires at 62

Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla retired on Tuesday at 62 years old, eight years ahead of the mandatory retirement age for Philippine judges and justices.

The SC approved Baltazar-Padilla's application for disability retirement effective Tuesday, November 3, the court's public information office said.

No other details were released.

President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Baltazar-Padilla to the high court last July. She filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Justice Andres Reyes, Jr. in May.

She was a justice of the Court of Appeals from 2006 until her appointment to the SC. She had also served as a judge of the Manila regional and metropolitan trial courts.

An educator, Baltazar-Padilla taught at the Lyceum of the Philippines, the New Era University, the Universidad de Manila and the University of the East for more than 17 years, and is a Mandatory Continuing Legal Education lecturer and a faculty member of the Philippine Judicial Academy.

During her interview with the Judicial and Bar Council last May 28, Baltazar-Padilla said she was certified to be in good health. A JBC member, citing chest X-ray result, had said that Baltazar-Padilla was found as having an atheromatous aorta.   —KBK, GMA News