Thursday, January 15, 2009 Sandigan chief appointed to SC
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has named Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta as the new associate justice of the Supreme Court (SC) vice Ruben Reyes Jr. who retired last January 3.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said he has already informed both the SC and Sandiganbayan about the appointment of Peralta.
Aside from Reyes, six other SC Justices Adolfo Azcuna, Dante Tinga, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Leonardo Quisimbing, Minita Chico-Nazaro, and Alicia Austria-Martinez are expected to retire also this year.
Martinez opted for an early retirement in April while the five other justices would all reach the mandatory age of retirement of 70.
Peralta was named presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan on March 28, 2008 vice Teresita de Castro who was then named as associate justice of the High Court.
Peralta, like de Castro, was a member of the three-man Special Division of the Sandiganbayan that convicted former President Joseph Estrada of plunder.
The former Quezon City judge had been referred to as a "hanging judge" prior to his appointment to the Sandiganabyan after sentencing to death more than 40 people. He is even a founding member of the "Guillotine Club," which is comprised of judges who sentenced and advocated capital punishment.
Peralta, who finished law at the University of Santo Tomas, is the son of former Manila Court of First Instance judge Elviro Peralta and former teacher Catalina Madardang-Peralta, and is married to Court Appeals Associate Justice Fernanda Lampas-Peralta.
His father is reportedly a friend of the late President Diosdado Macapagal, from whom he was named after.
He first worked as a production analyst of Cosmos Bottling Corporation in 1974 before moving up as general manager of Ace Agro-Development Corporation, and later as legal consultant of the Metro Manila Commission in 1981 before serving as a barangay councilman in Barangay Fairview in Quezon City.
He tapped as a member of the task force that looked into tax fraud cases against former First Lady Imelda Marcos, of the Task Force on Tax Deficiency of the City of Manila, and later of the Joint Legal Action Group of the defense, justice and local government departments before working as assistant city fiscal or prosecutor in Laoag City and later in Manila.
Peralta then became a regional trial court judge in Quezon City in 1994 and executive judge in 2000 before being named as associate justice of the Sandiganbayan in 2002. (JMR/Sunnex)
