President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Marawi-born Japar Dimaampao as the newest justice of the Supreme Court.

The appointment, dated July 2, was transmitted to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, September 14.

Dimaampao is only the second Muslim justice of the High Court, after retired justice Abdulwahid Bidin, who was appointed in 1987. 

Dimaampao will take the vacancy created when Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo was promoted to top magistrate. There is another vacant post to replace retired justice Edgardo delos Santos, who opted for early retirement.

Dimaampao has been a Court of Appeals (CA) justice for 17 years. He is 57 years old and will serve the High Court for 13 long years, until 2033.

An expert in taxation and commercial law, and a strong advocate for the creation of a Sharia apellate court, many in the legal profession would say that this appointment was long overdue. He has been applying since before the Duterte administration.

Dimaampao said in his last Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) interview in January that he will be a collegial justice, a virtue of high premium in the Supreme Court that has been rocked by previous infightings.

To this, JBC’s Noel Tijam asked: So nothing will change? It will be the same, you will just follow?

“I will always uphold the supremacy of the Constitution, and I will likewise be guided by the definition of judicial power under Article 8, Section 1, which in effect, adopts the theory of judicial activism,” said Dimaampao.

Strong advocate of Sharia law

In the Duterte government, Dimaampao has applied and was shortlisted in almost all the vacancies. He has consistently been on the upper crust of the shortlists of the JBC, meaning he often gets the top votes from the council, but was always bypassed.

Asked by the JBC in January 2021 why he thinks he has not been appointed yet, Dimaampao said: “I believe in the appointing power of the president, I respect that, it’s only the president who knows the reason.”

“I find optimism in the old saying that hope springs eternal,” Dimaampao said.

Dimaampao told the JBC that the two administrative complaints filed against him during his tenure in the CA have been dismissed with finality by the Supreme Court.

Dimaampao is a government homegrown – from a legislative staff, a prosecutor, then a judge, up to his appointment to the CA.

“Justice Japar Dimaampao is one of the best of Duterte’s appointees, maybe second only to CJ Alex Gesmundo. He has a solid reputation in terms of competence, integrity, and independence,” said law professor Tony La Viña.

“His being a Muslim is secondary, because he is the best qualified for the vacancy. Nevertheless it’s good that an important ethnic (Maranao) and religious (Muslim) constituency is represented in the High Court,” La Viña added.

The Bangsamoro Parliament, the governing body of the newly created Bangsamoro region, has been pushing for Dimaampao’s appointment.

Excluding his chief justice picks, Dimaampao is Duterte’s 17th appointee and one of his last. Duterte has a pending appointment to make, and by 2022, he would have to appoint the replacements of Senior Associate Justice Estela Perlas Bernabe and Associate Justice Rosmari Carandang.

By 2022 when Duterte steps down, only Justices Marvic Leonen and Benjamin Caguioa are not his appointees.

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