SC appoints Villanueva as OIC for court administrator

The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday designated Deputy Court Administrator Raul Villanueva as the officer-in-charge of the Office of the Court Administrator following the promotion of Associate Justice Jose Midas Marquez to the 15-member bench.

In a memorandum order, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo directed Villanueva to exercise the “functions and perform the duties as head of the office” effective upon the issuance of the memorandum and until the appointment of the regular Court Administrator.

Under Presidential Decree No. 828, the Office of the Court Administrator was created with a mandate to “assist the said Court in the exercise of its power of administrative supervision over all courts as provided in Section 6, Article X, of the Constitution.”

The law provides that a new Court Administrator must be appointed by the Chief Justice.

“However, since the same law also provides that the Court [Administrator] may be removed by a vote of not less than 8 SC Justices, traditionally the imprimatur of the En Banc as to the choice of the Court Ad is also sought,” SC Public Information Office chief Brian Hosaka said, in a message to reporters.

Following his appointment, Marquez took his oath as the 192th associate justice of the Supreme Court before Chief Justice Gesmundo on Tuesday.