Aquino appoints 3 CA justices

MANILA -- President Benigno Aquino III has appointed three regional trial court judges (RTC) to the Court of Appeals.

The new appointees are: Quezon City RTC Judges Marie Christine Jacob and Henri Jean Paul Inting, and Iligan RTC Judge Oscar Badelles.

The appointments of the three justices were contained in a transmittal letter addressed to Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., dated September 18.

The three appointees will fill up the posts vacated by retired CA justices Josefina Guevarra-Salonga, Juan Enriquez and Antonio Villamor.

Jacob was the judge that handled the P73.85-million tax case filed against Ang Galing Pinoy Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo and his wife, Angela.

Inting, on the other hand, will join in the CA his mother, Justice Soccoro Inting, who was appointed in 2009.

Badelles, meanwhile, was among those who expressed support for former Chief Justice Renato Corona at the height of calls for the latter's removal from office.

Despite the three new appointments, there is another vacancy in the appellate court in the wake of the death of Justice Abrahan Borreta, who died recently of cardiac arrest.

Borreta was a former Pasig city RTC judge who convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 drug lord Amin Imam Boratong and his wife for operating a so-called "shabu tiangge."

Borreta was a member of the CA's 22nd Division based in Cagayan de Oro City at the time of his death. (JCV/Sunnex)