Who is retired Sandiganbayan exec Amparo Cabotaje-Tang?
MANILA, Philippines — Retired Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang appeared as the prosecution’s first witness on Monday, Sept. 14, as the impeachment court began proceedings on Article II in the case against Vice President Sara Duterte.
The defense opposed the prosecution’s presentation of Cabotaje-Tang as a witness to discuss the governing principles on hidden and ill-gotten wealth, as well as prohibited business and financial interests. But the court’s presiding officer, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, allowed the retired magistrate to take the witness stand.
READ: Impeach court allows ex-Sandiganbayan justice Tang to testify on SALN
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Cabotaje-Tang completed her law degree at the San Beda College of Law in 1979, the same year she passed the bar examinations. She served as a legal assistant at the Supreme Court (SC) from 1980 to 1982 before working for 31 years at the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG).
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The SC’s website stated that Cabotaje-Tang became an assistant solicitor general before President Benigno Aquino III appointed her to the Sandiganbayan in 2012 to fill the position vacated by then-Sandiganbayan Justice Francisco Villaruz Jr., who had been appointed the court’s presiding justice.
READ: Aquino appoints new Sandigan presiding justice
A year later, she succeeded Villaruz and served as the Sandiganbayan’s presiding justice until her retirement in 2024, when SC Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo commended her as “a shining example of what it means to serve with integrity, perseverance, and an unwavering commitment to excellence.”
Cabotaje-Tang obtained her political science degree from Manuel L. Quezon University in 1975 and worked as a trial lawyer from 1982 to 1984.
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The SC said she is a law professor at San Beda University and the University of Santo Tomas, specializing in criminal law, and had served as an examiner in political law in the 2015 bar examinations.
As Gesmundo pointed out when she retired, Cabotaje-Tang maintained that in all cases before them, the Sandiganbayan should “render well-reasoned rulings based on the facts, the evidence and the applicable laws and jurisprudential precedents—if not the overriding equities of substantial justice…without fear or favor.”
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“Without delaying judgment nor rushing to judgment, without being cowed by the clamor of the crowd or by pressure from the powers that be, and without being swayed by the popularity or notoriety of the personalities or issues involved.” /dm
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