RTC Judge Yap appointed justice of appellate court

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

A CEBUANA judge assigned in the environment court in Mandaue City was appointed as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals, Malacañang announced yesterday.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda bared the appointment of Marilyn Lagura-Yap, together with two other judges.

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Judge Yap told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview said she received a call from fellow judges that they saw her name on the ANC News Channel.

Yap graduated cum laude from University of the Philippines College of Cebu, before earning her law degree from the University of San Carlos.

“Not all aftershocks are bad,” she said, referring to the strong tremor that hit Central Visayas yesterday that she had to send her staff home early.

“I will miss the trials. (In the cases), you would see the people involved. When you deal with just documents, we can't see or feel the emotions, the drama,” she added.

Litigation

Yap was a fiscal in Mandaue City for nine to 10 years in litigation. She was prosecutor and then assistant provincial fiscal.

In 2000, she became a judge in Mandaue City Regional Trial court Branch 28 that is also designated by the Supreme Court as an environment court.

“Lingaw ang litigation. At the end of the day, you buckle down and work on the cases,” she said.

Her eldest child, lawyer Rafael Yap, told Sun.Star Cebu that they learned about the appointment through the ANC News Channel.

Rafael Yap is the incumbent City Traffic Operations Management executive director.

“We're happy (that) her efforts have been recognized,” he said.

Assignment

Judge Yap, a native of Cebu City, is currently the presiding judge of Mandaue City.

She said that once she receives information on her appointment, she would take her oath and then wait for her assignment.

“I am a newly appointed justice so the assignment may be either in Cagayan de Oro or Cebu,” she added.

Malacañang also appointed Judge Jacob Montesa II to the Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 80 in Muntinlupa City and Judge Jean Susan Desuasido Gill has been appointed to the Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 79 in Las Pinas City. (BAP/With Sunnex)