PROFILE: Who is new chief justice Rodil Zalameda?
Then Supreme Court Associate Justice Rodil V. Zalameda addresses the officers, members, and guests of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) – Capiz Chapter as guest of honor at the IBP – Capiz Chapter’sInduction of New Members and Installation of Officers and Fellowship Night, held on August 18, 2023 at Kapis Mansions in Banica, Roxas City. Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office/FileMANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr’s pick as the country’s 28th Chief Justice, Rodil Vaquilar Zalameda, was first appointed by former President Rodrigo Duterte to the Supreme Court as an associate justice on August 6, 2019.
According to his bio on the Supreme Court’s website, Zalameda was born in Caloocan City on August 2, 1963.
He obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1987 from the Ateneo de Manila University under an academic scholarship grant, where he he also participated in non-scholastic activities such as an associate editor of the Ateneo Law Journal, a senior staff member of the Ateneo Law Bulletin, and a member of the Fraternal Order of Utopia.
Zalameda was also a product of the University of the East where he finished high school (Caloocan campus) obtained a political science degree (Manila campus) in 1983.
After passing the 1988 bar examinations, Zalameda first joined the judiciary as a branch clerk of the Makati Regional Trial Court.
He left government service and engaged in private practice from 1990 to 1995, only to return in 1995 as a public prosecutor until his appointment as the City Prosecutor of Mandaluyong in 2002 at the age of 39.
In 2010, he was named Ulirang Mandaleño by the City Government of Mandaluyong in recognition of his distinguished career in public service.
Among the Supreme Court decisions penned by Zalameda was the acquittal this year of former First Lady Imelda Marcos from her 2018 conviction on seven counts of graft by the Sandiganbayan.
Zalameda wrote that Marcos was acquitted for the prosecution’s failure to prove her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Asked after the release of the SC decision if it will affect his choice for the next chief justice, Marcos Jr. said “that will never enter our thinking anyway.”
In 2023, Zalameda also wrote the landmark decision Deduro vs. Vinoya declaring that red-tagging, vilification, labelling and guilt by association threaten a person’s right to life, liberty, or security, may justify the issuance of a writ of amparo.
The high court also declared that labelling a person “red” often comes with frequent surveillance, direct harassment, and in some instances, eventual death.