Duterte names two CA justices

President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed two associate justices of the Court of Appeals (CA), the Palace said Thursday.

Acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said the two new appointees were Associate Justices John Zurbito Lee and Eleuterio Larisma Bathan.

"We wish both Associate Justices all the best, and we are confident that they would dispense justice with fairness, impartiality and integrity," he said.

Lee will replace Associate Justice Dorothy Gonzaga, while Bathan will take over the post of now Supreme Court Associate Justice Japar Dimaampao. 

Prior to his appointment to the CA, Lee practiced law for 17 years, starting as an associate at the Zambrano & Gruba Law Offices and then the Marcos Ochoa Serapio Tan Law Office before establishing his own law firm together with other lawyers. 

Bathan had served as a judge in the Municipal Trial Courts in Cities in Batangas and later as presiding judge of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 29.

He was admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1999, while Lee passed the licensure exam in 2004.  —with Joahna Lei Casilao/AOL/VBL, GMA News