EXECUTIVE OFFICIALS
Justice AMEURFINA A. MELENCIO HERRERA
PHILJA Chancellor
Madame Justice Herrera has been the Chancellor of the
Philippine Judicial Academy since its institution in March 1996. She was
appointed to said position four years after her retirement from the Supreme
Court, where she served as Associate Justice from 1979 to 1992.
She is the moving power behind the Philippine Judicial
Academy which aims to foster excellence in the Judiciary by providing quality
judicial and legal education to members and aspirants to the Judiciary, court
personnel and officials and personnel of quasi-judicial bodies.
Described as the illustrious granddaughter of the President
of the First Philippine Republic, General Emilio Aguinaldo, Madame Justice
Ameurfina A. Melencio Herrera cut a fulfilling and fruitful career on the Bench
from then Court of First Instance of Baler, Quezon to the highest court of the
land. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, and rendered landmark
decisions as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She was Chairman of the
Second Division of the Supreme Court and was Chairman of the House of
Representatives Electoral Tribunal until she retired in 1992.
The Philippine Bar Association, in awarding Justice Herrera
a Plaque of Appreciation in 1991, aptly described her thus: “Born of patrician
stock, bred in gentility, raised in affluence, steeped in academics, and
enveloped in historical prominence. She is her own light despite the long
shadow cast by her grandfather, the first Philippine President of Emilio
Aguinaldo; her father, Ambassador Jose P. Melencio, and her husband, U.P.
Chancellor, Dr. Florentino B. Herrera, Jr.. Yet, she is the guardian of the
legacy of her lineage as she brings forth into full flowering, through her
actuations and court adjudications, the justice that heroes dream of and the
freedom that martyrs die for.”
Justice JUSTO P. TORRES, Jr.
Vice Chancellor and Head of Administrative Office
A native of Tanza,
Cavite, Justice Justo P. Torres, Jr. was born on November 1, 1927, in Tondo,
Manila. His father, was the noted lawyer Justo A. Torres, Sr. and his mother,
Candida Pacumio, who were both from Tanza.
He
is a product of both public and private schools. He finished his elementary
education at the Tondo Elementary School and entered the San Jose Seminary for
priestly studies before the outbreak of the last war. He obtained his Bachelor
of Laws degree from San Beda College and passed the 1953 Bar Examinations
obtaining an average of 85.75 and a 100% rating in Mercantile Law. In 1955, he
finished his Master of Laws from University of Manila. He observed legal and
judicial education in leading schools in the United States and Europe.
Justice
Torres, had a lucrative law practice in Manila and was a professor of law at
San Beda College and other leading universities for more than thirty (30)
years. He also became Chairman of Business Law Department of the University of
the East and a lecturer on corporate law and practice at the University of the
Philippines Law Center. Justice Torres authored several law books on business
law and the Philippine Constitution used nationwide. He attended various
international conferences from all over the world for which he was the
recipient of various awards.
On
February 1, 1987, he was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Court of
Appeals, and later as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the
Philippines on March 11, 1996. As a respected magistrate, he wrote several
landmark decisions for the Court, one of which was the biggest tax assessment
in the history of the Supreme Court, Marcos II v. Court of Appeals. He
was recognized in the Supreme Court as "one who was a genuine
advocate of justice, God-fearing and a nationalist." He
retired on November 1, 1997.
An
ardent Rizalist and nationalist, Justice Torres was conferred the title of Supreme
Commander Emeritus, the Highest award of the Order of the Knights of Rizal;
a recipient of Bedans of the Century Award for the Judiciary, a distinguished
Hero of the People of the province of Cavite and an exemplary Catholic
leadership award by the Diocese of Imus, Cavite.
After
his retirement from the Supreme Court, he was appointed Chairman of the Board
of Regents of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (University of the
City of Manila) and an Executive Official of the Philippine Judicial Academy,
the educational arm of the Supreme Court.
As
a young lawyer in 1957, he married his classmate in the graduate school, the
late Atty. Gloria E. Aruego, from Urdaneta Pangasinan by whom he had five (5)
children: Immaculada, Roberto, Cristeta, Justo III, and Agustin. In 1977, he
married Rosalinda Q. Octavo, a bank executive from Kawit, Cavite by whom he has
two (2) children: Basilisa Concepcion and Justo Paulo. Justice Torres and his
family reside in his ancestral home in Biwas, Tanza, Cavite.
Justice MARINA L. BUZON
Executive Secretary
Justice Buzon obtained her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of the Philippines in 1963 and 1967, respectively, and passed the Bar Examinations also in 1967.
Her work experiences include: Researcher in the Concepcion, Balajadia and Victorino Law Office; Researcher in the Court of Appeals; Chief Legal Officer and Special Prosecutor in the Office of the Tanodbayan; Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 170, Malabon and Branch 91, Quezon City; and Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals until her early retirement on March 19, 2008.
Justice Buzon was Bar Examiner in Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises in the 1992 Bar Examinations. In 1995, she was recognized by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Quezon City Chapter as One of the Ten Most Outstanding Judges of Quezon City and received an Award for Judicial Excellence from the Rotary Club of Metro Sta. Mesa. She was also given Plaques of Distinction by the UP Women Lawyers Circle (WILOCI) in 1987 and 1997.
Currently, Justice Buzon is the Executive Secretary of the Philippine Judicial Academy.
HEADS OF OFFICES
Justice DELILAH VIDALLON-MAGTOLIS
Head, Academic Affairs Office
Justice Delilah Vidallon Magtolis is a multi – awarded
jurist with almost 23 years of service in the judiciary. She was first
appointed as a Metropolitan Trial Court Judge in Quezon City at the Judiciary
Reorganization of January 1983, and was promoted as RTC Judge in the same city
during the reorganization occasioned by the EDSA revolution of 1986. Her award
for Judicial Excellence catapulted her to the Court of Appeals in 1994, and it
is in this Court where she was stayed the longest.
After her compulsory retirement in November, 2005 from the
Court of Appeals where she received an Achievement award for having disposed of
all her cases submitted for decision, she was taken by the Supreme Court to be
the Executive Secretary of its training arm, the Philippine Judicial Academy,
which position she still holds at present.
As a trial judge, she was the recipient of various awards,
foremost of which were: the Cayetano Arellano Award for Judicial Excellence as
Outstanding RTC Judge, given by the Foundation for Judicial Excellence in 1992,
and Most Outstanding RTC Judge among the five nationally – selected in 1989 by
the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, both after a nationwide search, thorough
screening and clandestine investigation. Her other awards include, among
others, that of outstanding Judge, IBP of Quezon City; Outstanding Jurist and
Public Servant, Quezon City Youth Development Foundation; Woman of Distinction
in the Field of Justice, YWCA of Quezon City on its 20th Anniversary;
Certificate of Merit from the Philippine Women Judges Association for her
“Innovations on Judicial Management and Procedures”: Ulirang Ina Award in the
field of Judiciary given by the National Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day
Foundation; and Area Champion, Impromptu Speech Contest, Toastmasters
International (Area 2, Division A).
Justice Magtolis is a graduate of the Francisco College (Ll.B., Magna Cum Laude, 1959), and the Far Eastern University (BSC, 1955).
She also took up graduate studies in Public Administration at the University of
the Philippines, after winning a graduate fellowship thereat. At Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA, she took up special courses in Law and the
Internet, Developments in Family Law, International Litigation, and Public and
Private International Economic Law.
Working her way through college, Justice Magtolis has more
than 46 years of government service. She is also a Professorial Lecturer of the
Philippine Judicial Academy, and a Lecturer of the Institute of Judicial Administration of the University of the Philippines, and of the Department of Justice.
She has written several legal articles, published or unpublished, and is a
co-author of the Benchbook on “The Child in the Justice System”, published by
the FairCHILD and the U.P. Law Center in 1994.
She is also active in socio-civic work, particularly in
promotion of the rights and interests of women and children. Justice Magtolis
is a Caviteña by blood, her parents (Leon A. Vidallon and Dionisia Cajapin
Vidallon, both deceased) being both from Cavite (Alfonso and Kawit,
respectively). She is married to Engineer Isagani M. Magtolis of Negros
Oriental, with whom she has three daughters, a physician, an information
technology manager with M.B.A., and a Lawyer.
Professor SEDFREY M. CANDELARIA
Head, Research, Publications and Linkages Office
Professor Sedfrey M. Candelaria heads the Research, Publications and Linkages Office of the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA) and chairs its Department of Special Areas of Concern. He is also Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Professor of Law at the Ateneo Law School, where he teaches Constitutional Law, Public International Law, Indigenous Peoples and the Law, Children’s Rights, and International Economic Law, as well as Head of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Unit (Katutubo) and Director of the Child Rights Unit (Adhikain Para sa Karapatang Pambata) of the Ateneo Human Rights Center. A member of the GRP Negotiating Panel and a Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute (CJEI) Fellow in Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, he obtained his Master of Laws degree at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
He has authored several articles on human rights, refugees, children’s rights, debt crisis, international humanitarian law, rights of indigenous peoples and adoption, and edited and conducted researches for UNICEF on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Juvenile Justice.
DCA BERNARDO T. PONFERRADA
Head, Philippine Mediation Center Office
DCA Bernardo T. Ponferrada heads the Judicial Reforms Office of the Philippine Judicial Academy. He joined the Academy right after he retired as Deputy Court Administrator (DCA) of the Supreme Court. Prior to his appointment as DCA, he was designated as Executive Judge of Bacolod City.
He implemented and instituted innovative programs during his term as Judge and Executive Judge in Bacolod City, such as: (1) Judicial Personnel Enrichment Program, a continuing personnel development program aimed at promoting professional attitude for court employees; (2) Organized a Training-Seminar, on the Barangay System of Justice, continuing paralegal training of the Lupon Tagapamayapa in the City of Bacolod and other areas within the administrative jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Court of Bacolod, in coordination with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and other agencies aimed at improving the system of barangay justice giving emphasis on the vital role of women and the youth in the conciliation process; (3) Initiated the Outreach Program, intended as a vehicle of information acquainting the students on the structure, functions or workings of the judicial system, from the Supreme Court down to the level of the Municipal Trial Courts. Throughout his incumbency as judge, he has consistently maintained the speedy disposition of cases assigned to him, and was consistently ranked as one of the judges with the lowest number of caseloads at the end of the year.
