Duterte names 2nd woman justice to Supreme Court
President Duterte has named Court of Appeals Associate Justice Amy Javier as new Supreme Court (SC) associate justice, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed Wednesday evening.
Javier will replace retired SC justice Noel Tijam who retired on January 5 this year.
She is the second woman that Duterte appointed to the High Court after Rosmari Carandang in November last year.
Javier graduated cum laude at the Philippine Normal University (PNU). She teaches constitutional law.
Asked if Duterte’s “predilection for male appointees” is a disadvantage on her
chances of getting an SC seat during her interview with the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) in June last year, Javier said the President is not an enemy of women.
“I do not see the President as an enemy of women, I see him as a person who respects and loves his late mother, who he credits to have unconditionally loved him, and brought out the leader that he is,” she told the JBC.
“I would like to see him as a father who cares for his daughters, a person who founded several shelters for abused women and for children who are girls who are victims of incest,” she added.
Javier also disagreed that Duterte is a misogynist after the President said last year that his next appointee for the Ombudsman post would not be a woman.
“I see the President to be reasonable and I am confident that if I be accorded the honor of being nominated for the post, the President will pass upon my qualifications on the merits and not because I am a woman and not a man,” she said.
Meanwhile, Javier also said she is in favor of Duterte’s campaign for federalism.
“It will improve the economy and judicial system in the country. The idea is to diffuse the powers of the state to a group of self-sustaining provinces,” she said.
With the appointment of Javier, Duterte now has six appointees at the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin. Duterte has yet to name his last appointee who will take the spot vacated by Bersamin at the High Court.