(UPDATED) - President Rodrigo Duterte has promoted Court of Appeals Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier to the Supreme Court.

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed Wednesday, March 6, in a text message that Lazaro-Javier was named as the new associate justice of the Supreme Court.

Lazarro-Javier replaced Supreme Court associate justice Noel Tijam, who reached the mandatory retirement age on January 5 this year.

Lazaro-Javier was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2007 before she was installed as the new magistrate in the high court.

She graduated magna cum laude at the Philippine Normal University with a degree in education. She pursued law studies at the University of Santo Tomas, where she graduated class valedictorian in 1982. She passed the bar examinations the same year.

Lazaro-Javier has been teaching political law, commercial law, civil law, and remedial law subjects since 1983.

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said a copy of her appointment paper would be made public "once it becomes available."

He expressed confidence that Lazaro-Javier's "vast legal experience" would help her adapt at her new stint at the high tribunal.

He was also optimistic that Lazaro-Javier would show "competence, integrity, and independence" during her stint at the Supreme Court.

"We are confident that Associate Justice Javier, as a new guardian of the rule of law, would display a high degree of competence, integrity and independence during her stint at the Supreme Court," he said. (SunStar Philippines)