Cheers, jeers greet Zalameda appointment as SC chief

Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda on Friday took his oath as the 28th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, with a promise to maintain judicial independence and integrity.

In the oath administered by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, Zalameda vowed to always be guided by the principle that “public office is a public trust.”

READ: Rodil Zalameda is new chief justice

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“In the exercise of my judicial functions, I shall always remain independent from any influence or unwarranted crime or undue pressure. I shall discharge these duties without fear or favor,” he said.

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In his interview as an applicant for the post before the Judicial and Bar Council last week, Zalameda said he had always been guided by the principle on the separation of powers among the three branches of government. He also proposed reforms—from anticorruption initiatives, court process modernization and facilities improvement, to case workload management.

Zalameda’s appointment by President Marcos was welcomed by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and a group of prosecutors.

However, for lawyer Ruben Carranza, a former commissioner of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the new Chief Justice’s past decisions in high-profile cases showed that he was willing to serve “whichever dynasty is in power.”

Fist bump with Duterte

Carranza, now a senior associate at the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice, recalled Zalameda’s fist-bump pose with former President Rodrigo Duterte upon his appointment to the high tribunal in 2019.

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In an online exchange with the Inquirer, Carranza also cited Zalameda’s vote to deny the appeal filed by Efren Murillo, who survived a police crackdown and later questioned the legality of Duterte’s antidrug campaign known as “Oplan Tokhang.”

This, Carranza added, was followed by the decision Zalameda penned this year acquitting former first lady Imelda Marcos, the President’s mother, of seven counts of graft.

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Zalameda also voted recently to deny Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s plea for a temporary restraining order plea against the implementation of his arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, he said.

“For someone who invokes the constitutional ‘separation of powers,’ he certainly knows how to shamelessly disrespect it,” Carranza said.

“When he fist-bumped Duterte the same day he was appointed associate justice in 2019, he already knew that between 6,000 and 20,000 mostly poor Filipinos had already been murdered by the person he was fist-bumping with,” he added.

The Sandiganbayan found Marcos guilty of graft in 2018 over the use of Swiss foundations that allowed her and her husband, the late dictator Ferdinand Sr., to hold least $200 million overseas while she was holding various government posts.

The Supreme Court reversed the Sandiganbayan decision in a June 10 decision penned by Zalameda. The high court, however, did not rule on whether the transactions were legitimate, but on whether the Swiss foundations fell within the scope of the antigraft law and if documents presented to establish their nature and the corresponding transactions had been properly authenticated.

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Carranza said it would have been easy for any “impartial, independent and self-respecting” justice to affirm the Sandiganbayan ruling since the Supreme Court had already accepted as authentic the Swiss bank documents and related papers that the PCGG earlier used as evidence in the case.

Support, challenge

The IBP, on the other hand, expressed confidence in the leadership of Zalameda, while the National Capital Region Chief Prosecutors Association Inc. endorsed the former Mandaluyong City public prosecutor for his “unyielding pursuit of justice.”

The University of the East (UE), Zalameda’s alma mater, also welcomed his new role as a testament to his “enduring commitment to the administration of justice.” The magistrate earned a degree in political science from UE in 1983.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, meanwhile, had this message to the new chief justice:

“A challenge to Chief Justice Rodil Zalameda is to lead the reform of the Philippine justice system. A challenge to restore the people’s trust in the judiciary. A challenge to have faster resolution of cases, fair implementation of the law, and a system free from corruption and lack of accountability,” Pangilinan said in a statement.

The senator cited the many reforms needed in the judicial branch, after the Philippines ranked only 97 out of 143 countries in the 2026 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index.

He said Zalameda should prioritize reducing the backlog of unresolved cases in local courts, and that the Judiciary Executive Legislative Advisory and Consultative Council should also be convened for better coordination among the three branches of government.

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In a social media post on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said he was confident that Zalameda, with his decades of experience, will lead the Supreme Court “with wisdom, integrity and a firm commitment to justice.” —WITH A REPORT FROM KEITH CLORES