MANILA: President Aquino has appointed Amparo Cabotaje-Tang as presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan despite her being considered a junior, having joined the anti-graft court only in June 2012.
“I may be junior in judicial experience but I am not a junior in legal and administrative experience,” Tang said when she was grilled by the Judicial and Bar Council last June as candidate for the position. Insisting on her independence as a Sandiganbayan justice, Tang said “no one has swayed me into delaying or solving a case in favour of one party.”
The JBC began its search for nominees to become the next presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan following the mandatory retirement of Presiding Justice Francisco Villaruz Jr on June 8 after he turned 70.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr transmitted the appointment of Tang to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on October 1, the same day it was signed by President Aquino.
Tang was chosen by the president from among four other nominees to the position that included Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rafael Santos. The other nominees were Court of Appeals Justice Apolinario Bruselas Jr and Sandiganbayan justices Efren de la Cruz and Gregory Ong.
At 58, Tang is the youngest member of the Sandiganbayan. In the same JBC interview, she was also asked about compromise agreements and she replied they could be allowed in civil but not in criminal cases.
“Criminal cases can never be compromised... there’s also a plea bargaining agreement,” she said. The Philippine star
