President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Court of Appeals Associate Justice Henri Jean-Paul Inting as associate justice of the Supreme Court, to take the vacancy left by the promotion of Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin in November last year, a member of the Judicial and Bar Council said on Monday.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, as JBC member, confirmed last night that the President promoted Inting to the high court’s 15-member bench.
Inting is one of the 13 nominees shortlisted by the JBC and submitted to Malacañang last February.
The Davao native completes the tribunal that is expected to decide soon on controversial cases hurled against the Duterte administration, including the Chico River and Kaliwa Dam loan projects with China.
Inting, who completed his law degree from Ateneo de Davao, was appointed to the CA in October 2012.
The new SC magistrate had previously served as senior corporate lawyer in the National Housing Authority, senior CA supervising staff lawyer, public lawyer at the Public Attorney’s Office, and in succession, as assistant city public prosecutor, presiding Metropolitan Trial Court judge and Regional Trial Court presiding judge, all in Quezon City.
His sister, Socorro Inting, is also a CA magistrate.
During his interview with the JBC, Inting said he approves of the proposal to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
According to Inting, the youth, exposed to technology and the Internet, must be made aware that “there are things that are criminal acts and they should be answerable for that.”
While he said that lowering the MACE may not reduce crime rates, Inting told the JBC that it may diminish the “seriousness” or the “type of crime” committed by youth offenders.
