Menardo Guevarra | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).png) Guevarra as Justice Secretary | |
| Solicitor General of the Philippines | |
| In office June 30, 2022 – May 29, 2025 | |
| President | Bongbong Marcos |
| Preceded by | Jose Calida |
| Succeeded by | Darlene Berberabe |
| 58thSecretary of Justice | |
| In office April 5, 2018 – June 30, 2022 | |
| President | Rodrigo Duterte |
| Preceded by | Vitaliano Aguirre II |
| Succeeded by | Jesus Crispin Remulla |
| Deputy Executive Secretary | |
| In office June 30, 2016 – April 4, 2018 | |
| President | Rodrigo Duterte |
| Succeeded by | Michael P. Ong |
| In office May 27, 2015 – January 31, 2016 | |
| President | Benigno S. Aquino III |
| Preceded by | Michael G. Aguinaldo |
| Commissioner of thePhilippine Competition Commission | |
| In office February 1, 2016 – June 30, 2016 | |
| President | Benigno S. Aquino III |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Menardo Ilasco Guevarra (1954-05-23)May 23, 1954 (age 71)[citation needed] Meycauayan,Bulacan, Philippines |
| Spouse | Cynthia |
| Children | 4 |
| Alma mater | Ateneo de Manila University (AB,LL.B) University of the Philippines Diliman (M.Econ) |
| Profession | Lawyer, Professor, Civil Servant |
Menardo Ilasco Guevarra (born May 23,[citation needed] 1954)[1] is a Filipino lawyer who served asSolicitor General of the Philippines from 2022 to 2025 under PresidentBongbong Marcos. He previously served as theSecretary of Justice under PresidentRodrigo Duterte and as a commissioner of thePhilippine Competition Commission under PresidentBenigno Aquino III. Before joining the government, he was involved in private litigation practice as a founding partner of the Medialdea Ata Bello Guevarra & Suarez law firm since 1990. He was also an active faculty member at his alma materAteneo de Manila University, where he graduated in 1974.[2][3]
Guevarra was born on May 23,[citation needed] 1954, in Malhacan,Meycauayan,Bulacan.[1][4] He attendedMeycauayan College, formerly Meycauayan Institute, and completed his secondary education in 1970.[5][6] After high school, Guevarra moved toManila to study atAteneo de Manila University, where he majored in political science and graduated magna cum laude in 1974.[2] He then enrolled at theUniversity of the Philippines Diliman and completed his master's degree in economics in 1977.[7][3]
Guevarra then served as a staff economist at theNational Economic and Development Authority and theBangko Sentral ng Pilipinas while pursuing his law degree at theAteneo de Manila Law School. He obtained his LL.B. degree in 1985, graduating with Second Honors, and placed second in thePhilippine Bar Examination in the same year.[2][7] He also underwent an intensive practical training in Maritime and Admiralty law at the Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Limited inLondon, U.K. in 1999.[3]
Guevarra first worked as an economist after finishing his master's degree in economics in 1977. He joined the National Economic and Development Authority in 1977 and served as a staff economist until 1983. He was then hired by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas as a bank economist under its Department of Economic Research from 1983 to 1986.[3] Guevarra's first legal job was as part of the technical staff of thePhilippine Constitutional Commission of 1986 hired by the government of PresidentCorazon Aquino to draft the 1987Constitution of the Philippines.[7][2]
Guevarra started his private law practice as an associate of the Ponce Enrile Cayetano Bautista Picazo & Reyes (PECABAR) Law Offices inMakati in 1987. In 1990, he formed his own law partnership firm based inOrtigas Center which would later be known as the Medialdea Ata Bello Guevarra & Suarez (MABGS) law offices, now simply Medialdea Bello Suarez (MBS).[3] Since 1990, Guevarra had also been teaching at his alma mater Ateneo de Manila University as a member of the Law School faculty. He taught a broad range of subjects, including Property, Civil Procedure and Evidence.[2]
Guevarra's work as a private lawyer for more than thirty years involved thousands of cases concerning contract disputes, family and property relations, intra-corporate controversies, tax appeals, criminal actions, and legal representation in various regulatory agencies.[2] His clients included well-known personalities such asSharon Cuneta andRodrigo Duterte.[8] While teaching at the Ateneo Law School, he was also a lecturer in the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) program of theSupreme Court of the Philippines. He also served as Accredited Arbitraror of the Philippine Dispute Resolution Center, the arbitration arm of thePhilippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.[3]
Guevarra returned to government service in September 2010 when he was appointed by PresidentBenigno Aquino III to the five-memberPhilippine Truth Commission formed to investigate the alleged corruption scandals of the previousGloria Macapagal Arroyo administration.[9] The commission headed by formerChief JusticeHilario Davide Jr. was abolished in 2011 after the Supreme Court declared it as unconstitutional.[10] Guevarra then assumed the position of deputy executive secretary for legal affairs under Aquino's executive secretary and his law school classmatePaquito Ochoa Jr. in May 2015. He also served briefly as a commissioner of thePhilippine Competition Commission in February 2016 until the end of Aquino's term in June 2016.[1][7][2]
As an Aquino appointee, Guevarra was also involved in thePhilippines v. China arbitration case at thePermanent Court of Arbitration inThe Hague, Netherlands as a member of the Philippine legal team.[2] He also sat briefly as anex-officio member of theJudicial and Bar Council. On June 30, 2016, upon the assumption of Rodrigo Duterte as President of the Philippines, Guevarra returned to the deputy executive secretary portfolio under his former law partnerSalvador Medialdea.[2] Concurrent to his executive department service, he also served in the board of trustees of the Development Academy of the Philippines and as representative of the office of the president in the board of directors of theSubic Bay Metropolitan Authority.[2]
Guevarra was appointedad interim justice secretary on April 5, 2018, replacingVitaliano Aguirre II. In a speech before the employees of the Department of Justice on his first day at the department on April 16, 2018, Guevarra said it was his personal mission to "restore the dignified and respectable image" of the Justice department, after it was hounded by controversial cases under his predecessor.[11] His appointment was confirmed by theCommission on Appointments in May 2018.[12]
On June 17, 2022, President-electBongbong Marcos nominated Guevarra as the nextsolicitor general, of which he was sworn in on the role on July 1, 2022, following theInauguration of Bongbong Marcos as president.[13][14]
In a bid to prevent theArrest of Rodrigo Duterte for theInternational Criminal Court in March 2025, Duterte's associates filed a petition before theSupreme Court. The high court denied immediate relief but will still consider the merits of the case. Guevara decided torecuse the office of the solicitor general in its manifestation; abstaining from representing the respondents from the Marcos administration.[15] The act caused calls for him to resign.[16]
On October 29, 2018, SenatorLeila de Lima filed with OmbudsmanSamuel Martires complaints against Justice SecretaryVitaliano Aguirre II and Guevarra for violation of section 10(f) of RA 6981, the "Witness Protection, Security, and Benefit Act." The Ombudsman, however, in 2019 and 2020, dismissed the complaints, which were reversed—"This case is remanded to the Office of the Ombudsman for appropriate action," Justice Raymond Reynold Lauigan, CA Special 17th Division, ruled in a decision dated November 21, 2023. Accordingly, De Lima pleaded for the investigation of her cases.[17]
Guevarra is married to Cynthia with whom he has four children.[18]
Media related toMenardo Guevarra at Wikimedia Commons| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Secretary of Justice 2018–2022 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Solicitor General of the Philippines 2022–2025 | Succeeded by |
