By Joyce Pangco Pa?ares

PRESIDENT Arroyo has appointed Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Diosdado Peralta, nicknamed ??the hanging judge,? to the Supreme Court.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Peralta would replace Associate Justice Ruben Reyes, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 on Jan. 3.

?He is very eligible for this higher position. He would not be recommended by the Judicial Bar Council if there were flaws in his record,? Ermita said in response to criticism it was Peralta?s closeness to the President that earned him the post.

With Peralta?s appointment, the council has opened the application for the position to be vacated by Justice Adolfo Azcuna on Feb. 16.

Azcuna will be the second among seven magistrates who are retiring before 2010, including Justices Alicia Austria-Martinez, Dante Tinga, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Leonardo Quisumbing, and Minita Chico-Nazario.

That will give Mrs. Arroyo the power to appoint almost half of the 15-member Supreme Court before she steps down in 2010.

Peralta?s father, former Manila Court of First Instance Judge Elviro Peralta, was a close friend of Mrs. Arroyo?s father, former President Diosdado Macapagal.

Peralta was in fact named after the late president, and his wife, Fernanda Lampas, was also appointed Court of Appeals justice by Mrs. Arroyo in February 2004.

But Ermita stressed that Peralta, who finished law at the University of Sto. Tomas in 1979, was chosen because of his record.

He bested four other nominees shortlisted by the council: Ateneo College of Law Dean Cesar Villanueva, Sandiganbayan Justice Francisco Villaruz, and Court of Appeals Justices Martin Villarama and Portia Hormachuelos.

Peralta was the chairman of the Sandiganbayan?s First Division and the third member of the Special Division of the Sandiganbayan that convicted former President Joseph Estrada of plunder.

He also reversed an earlier resolution that found probable cause in the graft charges filed by the Ombudsman against former Justice Secretary Hernando Perez.

He was dubbed the ?hanging judge? of Quezon City after he sentenced to death 44 people in 20 cases he handled as a regional trial court judge.

Peralta was previously considered as Ombudsman but lost by one vote to Merceditas Gutierrez.