President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has appointed former trade undersecretary Allan Batarra Gepty, along with trial court judges Leilani Marie Dacanay-Grimares and Pia Cristina Bersamin-Embuscado, as Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals (CA).
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) announced the new appointments on Wednesday, stating that the designations aim to strengthen the appellate court’s operational capacity.
“Reinforce the judiciary and support the administration of justice in the country,” the PCO said regarding the objectives of the new judicial appointments.
Gepty previously served as assistant secretary and undersecretary at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and was earlier nominated by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for a seat on the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA).
Dacanay-Grimares, a law graduate of the University of Santo Tomas, served as a Metropolitan Trial Court (MeTC) judge before being appointed to the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Parañaque City.
Bersamin-Embuscado, a former presiding judge of a Las Piñas City Regional Trial Court, is the daughter of former Executive Secretary and Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin.