MANILA – The Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed Menardo Guevarra as Department of Justice secretary. No CA member opposed the nomination.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the CA’s Committee on Justice and Judicial and Bar Council, moved to approve the appointment before the plenary session.
“The responsibilities of the secretary of Justice are certainly a lot to handle, but based on his credentials and experience, I am confident that Menardo I. Guevarra is up to the task,” Gatchalian said in his sponsorship speech.
“No stranger to public service,” Guevarra “got his start in the public sector right after college, serving as an economist at NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) and BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) for 12 years,” said the senator.
After graduating from law school and placing second on the 1985 Bar Examination, Guevarra served as a technical assistant with the 1986 Constitutional Commission, Gatchalian added.
President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Guevarra – then a senior deputy executive secretary – to the Justice department on April 5.
Guevarra replaced Vitaliano Aguirre II, who stepped down after the Justice department – due to insufficient evidence – dropped charges against several drug kingpins who had admitted their involvement in the drug trade.
Aguirre, a staunch Duterte ally, belonged to the same law school fraternity as the President./PN
