Retired SC Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, 82
Former Supreme Court (SC) Justice Minita V. Chico-Nazario, the first Presiding Justice of the Sandiganbayan to be promoted to the High Court, passed away on Wednesday night at the age of 82.
“The Supreme Court and the entire Judiciary join the loved ones of the late Hon. Justice Minita V. Chico-Nazario in mourning her death,” SC Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo said in a statement posted on the SC website on Friday.
“Justice Nazario will always be remembered as one of those who broke barriers in the history of the Philippine Judiciary,” Mr. Gesmundo added.
Ms. Nazario was the first female magistrate and presiding justice of the anti-graft court to have been appointed to the High Court.
She worked in government for 47 years, and served as an associate justice of the SC from 2004-to 2009.
She was appointed to the Sandiganbayan in 1993, and a decade later became its presiding justice.
Ms. Nazario brought judicial reforms to both the High Court and the anti-graft court where she improved the hospitalization and health benefits of its employees.
Ms. Nazario was a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Law, graduating in the same class as retired SC Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno in 1962. In 1988, she was admitted to the New York State Bar.
Born in San Miguel, Bulacan, on Dec. 5, 1939, she was married to the late Rod Nazario and is survived by her three children. — John Victor D. Ordonez
