President Duterte has appointed Court of Appeals (CA) Associate Justice Ricardo de Rivera Rosario as a new associate justice of the Supreme Court (SC), Malacañang announced on Friday.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Rosario took his oath of office Friday afternoon before Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said Rosario has been selected from the list of SC contenders submitted by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).
“Yes,” Medialdea said in a text message when asked about the appointment of Rosario to the High Court.
Rosario, a law graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, will assume the seat vacated by Associate Justice Jose Reyes Jr. who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 last month.
His appointment paper was signed by the President on Thursday, October 8.
Justice Rosario’s appointment completed the membership in the SC composed of 15 justices. He is expected to serve the SC until 2028.
His appointment is a promotion from his CA post which he served for 15 years.
He was also a city prosecutor and judge of both the metropolitan trial court (MeTC) and a Makati regional trial court (RTC) judge before his CA appointment in 2005.
Justice Rosario is the President’s 11th incumbent appointee to the SC, the highest court in the country.
The other Duterte’s incumbent appointees are Associate Justices Alexander G. Gesmundo, Ramon Paul L. Hernando, Rosmari D. Carandang, Amy C. Lazaro Javier, Henri Jean Paul B. Inting, Rodil V. Zalameda, Mario V. Lopez, Edgardo L. Delos Angeles, Samuel H. Gaerlan, and Priscilla J. Baltazar Padilla.
Last year, the President also appointed Peralta as head of the judiciary. Peralta will serve as Chief Justice until 2022.
Rosario was born on Oct. 15, 1958 as the fourth of the 13 children of lawyer Eduardo Gutierrez Rosario and former policewoman Anita de Rivera.
He is married to Maridur Basilio Virtucio with whom he has three children – Miguel Antonio, Anna Margarita, and Allyssa Martha. They were with Justice Rosario during the oath-taking ceremony at the SC.
The new SC justice is the brother of Manila Bulletin’s Chief of Reporters Ben R. Rosario and Quezon City Senior Assistant Prosecutor Ma. Cristina R. Rosario Osoteo, an applicant to the post of RTC judge in the National Capital Judicial Region (NCJR).
In a statement, presidential spokesman Harry Roque expressed confidence that the new SC Associate Justice will uphold the rule of law as well as advance reforms in the judiciary.
“We wish Justice Rosario all the best in his new assignment at the SC,” Roque said.
“As the newest member of the High Court, we are confident that Justice Rosario would advocate judicial independence, uphold the rule of law, and continue the reforms in our court processes,” he added.
Rosario was among the seven nominees in the shortlist submitted by the JBC to the President last month.
The JBC is the constitutionally mandated office that accepts, screens, and nominates appointments to the judiciary.
Other nominees were CA Associate Justices Ramon A. Cruz, Japar Dimaampao, Jhosep Lopez, Eduardo Peralta Jr., and Maria Filomena Singh, and Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez.