MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. appointed Commission on Audit (COA) chairperson Gamaliel Cordoba as his latest appointment to the Supreme Court (SC), Malacañang announced on Friday, November 13.
Palace Press Office Undersecretary Claire Castro announced Cordoba’s appointment in a news briefing.
Cordoba replaced former associate justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, an appointee of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who retired on November 16. Cordoba is Marcos’ second/third pick to the High Court after Associate Justice Raul Villanueva in 2025.
Multiple sources said that Cordoba enjoys close ties to Marcos and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos.
In 2022, Marcos appointed Cordoba as the COA chairperson, replacing Jose Calida. At the time, Cordoba took his oath before Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo, a fellow member of the Fraternal Order of Utopia.
As the COA chief, Cordoba oversaw the constitutional commission mandated to examine and audit all accounts of the government and its agencies or instrumentalities.
Cordoba, before his COA appointment, was the long-time commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). He held the position from 2009 under former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and was retained by former president Rodrigo Duterte.
The new SC associate justice was the NTC commissioner when the Duterte government pushed for the shutdown of media giant ABS-CBN in 2020.
