Retired SC justice named chair of independent infra commission

A retired Supreme Court justice and appointee of former president Rodrigo Duterte has been named head of the independent panel tasked to probe the alleged anomalies in flood control projects.

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In appointing Andres Reyes Jr. to head the Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI), President Marcos cited the retired justice’s “very good record of honesty and fairness and a good record of being able to find justice for those who have been victimized.”

Reyes was appointed to the Supreme Court by Duterte in July 2017 and retired from the judiciary in May 2020. He was presiding justice of the Court of Appeals from February 2010 until his promotion to the SC.

“I was very encouraged because in my meetings with Justice Andy yesterday, he said, ‘We have to make it nothing less than a turning point in the conduct of governance in the Philippines. We have to make a change, and it is a fundamental change in the way that we do business,"" Marcos said, quoting Reyes.

Reyes became a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines in 1979 and the Philippine Bar Association in 1986.

The ICI chief has held several key posts, including president of the Metropolitan Trial Court Judges Association of the Philippines, judge of the Metropolitan Trial Court-Makati and judge of the Regional Trial Court-San Mateo, Rizal.

After his retirement from the Supreme Court, Reyes worked as independent director of Basic Energy Corp.

The ICI chair obtained his Master of Public Administration degree from the Philippine Women's University in 2002, his law degree from the Ateneo Law School in 1978 and his bachelor's degree in economics from St. Mary's College in California in 1972.

Reyes will be working alongside ICI members former public works secretary Rogelio Singson and SGV & Co. country managing partner Rossana Fajardo.