Menardo Guevarra

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Menardo Guevarra

| image = File:DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra - Official Portrait (2019) (cropped).png

| image_size =

| caption = Guevarra as Justice Secretary

| office = Solicitor General of the Philippines

| term_start = June 30, 2022

| term_end =

| president = Bongbong Marcos

| predecessor = Jose Calida

| office1 = 58th Secretary of Justice

| term_start1 = April 5, 2018

| term_end1 = June 30, 2022

| president1 = Rodrigo Duterte

| predecessor1 = Vitaliano Aguirre II

| successor1 = Jesus Crispin Remulla

| office2 = Deputy Executive Secretary

| predecessor2 =

| successor2 = Michael P. Ong

| term_start2 = June 30, 2016

| term_end2 = April 4, 2018

| president2 = Rodrigo Duterte

| predecessor3 = Michael G. Aguinaldo

| successor3 =

| term_start3 = May 27, 2015

| term_end3 = January 31, 2016

| president3 = Benigno S. Aquino III

| office4 = Commissioner of the Philippine Competition Commission

| predecessor4 =

| successor4 =

| term_start4 = February 1, 2016

| term_end4 = June 30, 2016

| president4 = Benigno S. Aquino III

| birth_name = Menardo Ilasco Guevarra

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|05|23}}{{fact|date=May 2024}}

| birth_place = Meycauayan, Bulacan, Philippines

| nationality = Filipino

| occupation =

| profession = Lawyer, Professor, Civil Servant

| residence =

| party =

| alma_mater = Ateneo de Manila University (AB, LL.B)
University of the Philippines Diliman (M.Econ)

| spouse = Cynthia

| children = 4

| religion =

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

Menardo Ilasco Guevarra (born May 23,{{fact|date=May 2024}} 1954){{cite news|url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/199689-things-to-know-menardo-guevarra-justice-secretary |title=Who is new justice chief Menardo Guevarra? |work=Rappler|author=Ranada, P. |date=April 6, 2018 |accessdate=August 6, 2019}} is a Filipino lawyer serving as Solicitor General of the Philippines since 2022 under President Bongbong Marcos. He previously served as the Secretary of Justice under President Rodrigo Duterte and as a commissioner of the Philippine Competition Commission under President Benigno Aquino III. Before joining the government, he was involved in private litigation practice as a founding partner of the Medialdea Ata Bello Guevarra & Suarez law firm since 1990. He was also an active faculty member at his alma mater Ateneo de Manila University, where he graduated in 1974.{{cite web|url=https://www.doj.gov.ph/secretary-profile.html |title=Secretary's Profile |publisher=Department of Justice (Philippines) |accessdate=August 6, 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mabgslaw.com.ph/Site/partners/menardo-i-guevarra |title=Partners |publisher=MBS Law |accessdate=August 6, 2019}}

Early life and education

Guevarra was born on May 23,{{fact|date=May 2024}} 1954, in Malhacan, Meycauayan, Bulacan.{{cite web|url=http://www.cityofmeycauayanbulacan.gov.ph/resolution_ordinance/Resolution_1.pdf |title=City Resolution No. 2018-050 |publisher=City Government of Meycauayan |accessdate=April 6, 2019}} He attended Meycauayan College, formerly Meycauayan Institute, and completed his secondary education in 1970.{{cite web|url=https://centralluzon.politics.com.ph/tubong-bulacan-eh-linabelle-villarica-hails-guevarras-appointment-as-doj-chief/ |title=Tubong Bulacan eh! Linabelle Villarica hails Guevarra's appointment as DOJ chief |publisher=Politiko |date=June 23, 2018 |accessdate=August 6, 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_17/HR02026.pdf |title=House Resolution No. 2026 |publisher=House of Representatives of the Philippines |accessdate=August 6, 2019}} After high school, Guevarra moved to Manila to study at Ateneo de Manila University, where he majored in political science and graduated magna cum laude in 1974. He then enrolled at the University of the Philippines Diliman and completed his master's degree in economics in 1977.{{cite news|url=https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/649049/who-is-menardo-guevarra-duterte-s-next-secretary-of-justice/story/ |title=Duterte's next secretary of justice? |work=GMA News|date=April 5, 2018 |accessdate=August 6, 2019}}

Guevarra then served as a staff economist at the National Economic and Development Authority and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas while pursuing his law degree at the Ateneo de Manila Law School. He obtained his LL.B. degree in 1985, graduating with Second Honors, and placed second in the Philippine Bar Examination in the same year. He also underwent an intensive practical training in Maritime and Admiralty law at the Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Limited in London, U.K. in 1999.

Career

Guevarra first worked as an economist after finishing his master's degree in economics in 1977. He joined the National Economic and Development Authority in 1977 and served as a staff economist until 1983. He was then hired by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as a bank economist under its Department of Economic Research from 1983 to 1986. Guevarra's first legal job was as part of the technical staff of the Philippine Constitutional Commission of 1986 hired by the government of President Corazon Aquino to draft the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines.

Guevarra started his private law practice as an associate of the Ponce Enrile Cayetano Bautista Picazo & Reyes (PECABAR) Law Offices in Makati in 1987. In 1990, he formed his own law partnership firm based in Ortigas Center which would later be known as the Medialdea Ata Bello Guevarra & Suarez (MABGS) law offices, now simply Medialdea Bello Suarez (MBS). Since 1990, Guevarra had also been teaching at his alma mater Ateneo de Manila University as a member of the Law School faculty. He taught a broad range of subjects, including Property, Civil Procedure and Evidence.

Guevarra's work as a private lawyer for more than thirty years involved thousands of cases concerning contract disputes, family and property relations, intra-corporate controversies, tax appeals, criminal actions, and legal representation in various regulatory agencies. His clients included well-known personalities such as Sharon Cuneta and Rodrigo Duterte.{{cite web|url=https://politics.com.ph/acting-little-president-is-a-celebrity-lawyer-too/ |title=Acting 'little President' is a celebrity lawyer too |publisher=Politiko |date=August 5, 2017 |accessdate=August 6, 2019}} While teaching at the Ateneo Law School, he was also a lecturer in the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) program of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. He also served as Accredited Arbitraror of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, the arbitration arm of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

=Aquino administration=

Guevarra returned to government service in September 2010 when he was appointed by President Benigno Aquino III to the five-member Philippine Truth Commission formed to investigate the alleged corruption scandals of the previous Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration.{{cite news|url=https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/200651/composition-of-truth-body-is-finally-complete/story/ |title=Composition of truth body is finally complete |work=GMA News|author=Sisante, J. |date=September 9, 2010 |accessdate=August 6, 2019}} The commission headed by former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. was abolished in 2011 after the Supreme Court declared it as unconstitutional.{{cite news|url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/flashback/141381-timeline-2010-truth-commission |title=TIMELINE: The short-lived 2010 Truth Commission |work=Rappler|author=Santos, R. |date=July 30, 2016 |accessdate=August 6, 2019}} Guevarra then assumed the position of deputy executive secretary for legal affairs under Aquino's executive secretary and his law school classmate Paquito Ochoa Jr. in May 2015. He also served briefly as a commissioner of the Philippine Competition Commission in February 2016 until the end of Aquino's term in June 2016.

As an Aquino appointee, Guevarra was also involved in the Philippines v. China arbitration case at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands as a member of the Philippine legal team. He also sat briefly as an ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council. On June 30, 2016, upon the assumption of Rodrigo Duterte as President of the Philippines, Guevarra returned to the deputy executive secretary portfolio under his former law partner Salvador Medialdea. Concurrent to his executive department service, he also served in the board of trustees of the Development Academy of the Philippines and as representative of the office of the president in the board of directors of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

=Justice secretary=

Guevarra was appointed ad interim justice secretary on April 5, 2018, replacing Vitaliano Aguirre II. In a speech before the employees of the Department of Justice on his first day at the department on April 16, 2018, Guevarra said it was his personal mission to "restore the dignified and respectable image" of the Justice department, after it was hounded by controversial cases under his predecessor.{{cite news|url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/04/16/1806474/guevarra-i-will-restore-dojs-dignified-image |title=Guevarra: I will restore DOJ's dignified image |work=The Philippine Star|author=Patag, K.J. |date=April 16, 2018 |accessdate=August 6, 2019}} His appointment was confirmed by the Commission on Appointments in May 2018.{{cite news|url=https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/995686/breaking-ca-confirms-guevarras-ad-interim-appointment-as-justice-secretary/amp |title=CA confirms Guevarra's ad interim appointment as justice secretary |newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer|author=Ager, M. |date=May 30, 2018 |accessdate=August 6, 2019}}

=Solicitor General=

On June 17, 2022, President-elect Bongbong Marcos nominated Guevarra as the next solicitor general, of which he was sworn in on the role on July 1, 2022, following the Inauguration of Bongbong Marcos as president.{{cite news|url=https://mb.com.ph/2022/06/17/the-marcoscabinet-menardo-guevarra-solicitor-general/|first=E. |last=Quismorio|title=The #MarcosCabinet: Menardo Guevarra, solicitor general|work=Manila Bulletin|date=June 17, 2022|accessdate=June 17, 2022}}{{cite news|url=https://www.manilatimes.net/2022/07/01/news/national/president-swears-in-members-of-cabinet/1849382 |title=President swears in members of Cabinet

|work=The Manila Times |date=July 1, 2022 |accessdate=July 28, 2022}}

In a bid to prevent the Arrest of Rodrigo Duterte for the International Criminal Court in March 2025, Duterte's associates filed a petition before the Supreme Court. The high court denied immediate relief but will still consider the merits of the case. Guevara decided to recuse the office of the solicitor general in its manifestation; abstaining from representing the respondents from the Marcos administration.{{cite news |last1=Buan |first1=Lian |title=SolGen opts out of defending Marcos in Duterte petition vs ICC arrest |url=https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/explainers/solicitor-general-menardo-guevarra-recusal-supreme-court-defend-marcos-government-duterte-arrest/ |access-date=20 March 2025 |work=Rappler |date=17 March 2025}} The act caused calls for him to resign.{{cite news |last1=Romero |first1=Alexis |title=Palace to Guevarra: Are you still fit to be SolGen? SolGen leaves fate to Marcos |url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/03/19/2429475/palace-guevarra-are-you-still-fit-be-solgen-solgen-leaves-fate-marcos |access-date=20 March 2025 |work=The Philippine Star |date=19 March 2025}}

Legal issue

On October 29, 2018, Leila De Lima filed with Ombudsman Samuel Martires complaints against Vitaliano Aguirre II and Guevarra for violation of section 10(f) of RA 6981, the "Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act." The Ombudsman, however, in 2019 and 2020, dismissed the complaints which were reversed - "This case is remanded to the Office of the Ombudsman for appropriate action," Justice Raymond Reynold Lauigan, CA Special 17th Division ruled in a decision dated November 21, 2023. Accordingly, De Lima pleaded for the investigation of her cases.{{cite news |last1=Navallo |first1=Mike |title=CA orders Ombudsman to act on De Lima's complaints vs Aguirre, Guevarra|url=https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/9/experts-share-tips-to-beat-the-heat-in-indoor-areas-1736 |accessdate=May 9, 2024 |publisher=ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs |date=November 25, 2023}}

Personal life

Guevarra is married to Cynthia with whom he has four children.{{cite news |last1= Romulo|first1= Mons |title=Menardo I. Guevarra Solicited advice from the solicitor general|url=https://www.philstar.com/other-sections/newsmakers/2023/03/28/2254888/menardo-i-guevarra-solicited-advice-solicitor-general |accessdate= October 31, 2024 |work = The Philippine Star|date=March 28, 2023}}