(Eagle News) — Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno endorsed Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez to President Rodrigo Duterte for the position of associate justice of the Supreme Court.
In an endorsement letter dated July 31, Puno said Marquez is “qualified to the highest degree” for the associate justice position that will be vacated by retiring Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr.
Marquez has been serving the Highest Court for more than 25 years. He became one of the shortlisted candidates for the SC post after the retirement of Velasco on August 8.
Puno said that Marquez started working for the court in 1991, as an apprentice while still in law school.
“He never left the Court since then, even after he passed the Bar and became a lawyer in 1994.”
“In my assumption as Chief Justice in 2006, I appointed him as my Chief of Staff and Spokesperson of the Court. In 2010, in recognition of his exceptional service to the Court, he was unanimously appointed by the Court en banc as Court Administrator, the youngest the Court ever had,” Puno said.
“All these years, I have known Midas to be with a strong moral fiber. His integrity is beyond reproach. His intellectual ability is superior. His loyalty is unwavering,” Puno said.
Aside from Puno, the wife of late chief justice Renato Corona, Ma. Cristina Corona also sent a letter to President Duterte endorsing Marquez for the position.
Corona said that Marquez has proven his competence in in managing the requirements of the high court’s en banc, the judges, lawyers, litigants, court employees and as well as media covering the Judiciary.