SEVEN THOMASIANS have been appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as presiding judges of trial courts in Metro Manila, Batangas, Cavite, Camarines Norte and Lanao del Sur on Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Four will head regional trial courts (RTC), while the other three will preside over a metropolitan trial court (MeTC), a municipal trial court (MTC) and a municipal circuit trial court (MCTC).
Five of the appointees are Faculty of Arts and Letters alumni Katlyn Anne Aguilar-Bilgera, Rafael Pangilinan, Raiza Mei Andres, Cresencio Endozo and Miriam Dipasupil-Gestiada.
Legal Management alumni Bilgera, Endozo and Gestiada will head RTC Branch 214 in Mandaluyong City, RTC Branch 7 in Batangas City and the MTC in Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte, respectively.
Philosophy alumnus Pangilinan has been named to RTC Branch 11 in Malabang, Lanao del Sur and Political Science alumna Andres will preside over the MCTC Branch 1 covering Maragondon, Ternate and Magallanes in Cavite.
The other appointees are UST Graduate School of Law Master of Laws candidate Alberto Azarcon III, who will head RTC Branch 267 in Taguig City, and Master of Laws graduate Ian Virgil Umengan, who will preside over MeTC Branch 4 in Manila.
Bilgera obtained her law degree from the UST Faculty of Civil Law in 2011 and also teaches there.
Before her appointment, she was the presiding judge of MeTC Branch 82 in Valenzuela City.
She also worked as a corporate attorney at the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel and as an executive assistant at the Civil Service Commission.
Her earlier judicial posts included clerk of court of RTC Branch 4 in Manila and court attorney in the office of then-Supreme Court associate justice Roberto Abad.
Endozo and Gestiada both obtained their law degrees from the UST Faculty of Civil Law.
Endozo was appointed as MTC judge in Tuy, Batangas in 2019 during the administration of then-president Rodrigo Duterte and passed the Bar examinations in 2005.
Gestiada previously served as third assistant provincial prosecutor in Daet, Camarines Norte, and as counsel for the Camarines Norte Electric Cooperative, Inc. She passed the Bar examinations in 2003.
Meanwhile, Pangilinan obtained his law degree from San Sebastian College-Recoletos de Manila in 2014 and passed the Bar examinations that year.
He became an assistant city prosecutor under the Department of Justice (DOJ) in June. Before that, he spent more than a decade at the Public Attorney’s Office, representing indigent clients in criminal, civil and administrative cases.
Andres obtained her law degree from San Beda College of Law in 2017. Before her appointment, she served as clerk of court of RTC Branch 177 in Manila.
Before joining the judiciary in 2020, she practiced as an associate lawyer at Pizarras Gainza and Associates Law Offices.
Azarcon served as an MeTC judge in Makati City in 2013.
He previously held posts as an assistant city prosecutor in Makati under the DOJ and was a court attorney in the office of then-Supreme Court associate justice Leonardo Quisumbing. He also worked as a legal associate at Antonio R. Bautista & Partners Law Offices.
Umengan obtained his law degree from the Far Eastern University in 2015.
Before his appointment, he was a court attorney at the Court of Appeals. He also served as a legal assistant for the assistant secretary for operations of the then-Department of Transportation and Communications. F
