New SC Justice Reyes takes oath of office

UPDATED 10:30 a.m. - Accompanied by his family and colleagues from the judiciary, former Court of Appeals Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes took his oath of office as Supreme Court magistrate Tuesday. "My first order of business is to attend the en banc," the newly-minted SC justice told reporters, referring to the Supreme Court's regular en banc (full court) session every Tuesday. The 64-year-old Reyes is President Benigno Aquino III's second appointee to the high tribunal, the first being Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was named to the SC in August last year. Reyes fills in the seat vacated by retired SC justice Eduardo Nachura, who hung his robes last June 13 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. With Reyes' entry to the high court, there is only one vacant seat in the SC. The next appointee will occupy the seat left by retired SC Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales, who was appointed Ombudsman last July. Reyes has been in the judiciary in 1990, when he served as presiding judge of the Malabon Regional Trial Court. He was later appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2000 by then President Joseph Estrada. Prior to working in the judicial branch, Reyes worked in private practice, even serving as the finance manager of the Best Security Agency Inc. (BSA) from 1987 to 1990. BSA was the security agency set up by President Aquino that time, when his mother, Corazon Aquino, was president. GSIS-Meralco dispute Reyes was among the CA justices the SC reprimanded in 2008 for alleged improprieties and bribery over the ownership row between the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco). The high court found Reyes guilty of “simple misconduct with mitigating circumstance" in connection with the handling of the ownership case with this fellow magistrates. Aside from Reyes, those sanctioned by the high court were CA justices Jose Sabio Jr., Conrado Vasquez, and Myrna Dimaranan-Vidal. CA Justice Vicente Roxas suffered the more severe penalty of dismissal after he was found guilty of multiple violations of the canons of the Code of Judicial Conduct, grave misconduct, dishonesty, undue interest and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of service. - RSJ/VVP, GMA News