SC magistrate Reyes retires on May 11

Supreme Court magistrates led by Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta will hold a virtual en banc session on Friday for the retirement ceremony of Associate Justice Andres B. Reyes Jr.

President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Reyes, who reaches his mandatory retirement age of 70 on May 11, as magistrate to the 15-member bench on July 13, 2017.

This coming Friday’s en banc session would be the third time that Court’s justices would be meeting through video conferencing.

The first time was when it acted on the petition of several persons deprived of liberty (PDLs) who sought their release for fear of coronavirus disease infection in jails. The second time was when the SC authorized the release of the results of the 2019 bar examinations.

The high court was compelled to hold Reyes’ retirement ceremony online due to prevailing national health emergency and the subsequent imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) to control the spread of the coronavirus diseases.