MANILA– President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Abracia Econg as the new presiding justice of the Sandiganbayan, the country’s anti-graft court. 

The appointment, dated January 7, 2025, was officially released by Malacanang on Wednesday.

Econg takes over from Amparo M. Cabotaje-Tang, who retired on November 7, 2024.

Econg, a seasoned jurist, has distinguished a career in the Philippine judicial system. 

In 2016, she was appointed as an associate justice of the Sandiganbayan, where she served as the chairperson of its Second Division. Prior to her tenure at the Sandiganbayan, she held various judicial roles, including presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 9 in Cebu City from 2004 to 2010.

From 2010 to 2015, she served as the Judicial Reform Program Administrator in the Supreme Court’s Program Management Office. She also headed the Office of the Philippine Judicial Academy from 2015 to 2016.

Econg is a law graduate of the University of San Carlos. In 2021, she was also nominated as one of the nine candidates for the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

She is expected to retire in August 2037.