Duterte appoints new appellate court members 

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has named two new members of the Court of Appeals, his office announced on Thursday.   

In a statement, Palace Spokesman Jose Ruperto Martin M. Andanar said Mr. Duterte has appointed John Zurbito Lee and Eleuterio Larisma Bathan as new associate justices of the appellate court.  

The two new members of the country’s second highest tribunal will replace Japar Dimaampao, who was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and Dorothy Montejo-Gonzaga, who resigned last year. 

Prior to their new appointments, Ms. Bathan served at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, while Mr. Lee became a managing partner of a private law firm where he “handled taxation law, estate planning, corporate law,” among others.  

Mr. Lee had also joined another private law firm that was co-founded by Louise “Liza” C. Araneta Marcos, wife of presumptive president Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr. — Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza