Samuel Hufano Gaerlan (born December 19, 1958) is a Filipino judge who has served as an

associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines An associate justice of the Supreme Court () is one of fifteen members of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, Supreme Court, the highest court in the Philippines. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, chief justice presid ...

since 2020. He was appointed by President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

to fill the vacated seat of Associate Justice

Diosdado Peralta Diosdado "Dado" Madarang Peralta (born March 27, 1952) is a Filipino attorney and jurist who served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 2019 to 2021. He previously served as an associate justice of the Supreme Cour ...

, who was appointed chief justice.

Life and career

Gaerlan was born in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

La Union La Union (), officially the Province of La Union (; ; ; ; ; ), is a coastal province in the Philippines situated in the Ilocos Region on the island of Luzon. The province's capital, the San Fernando, La Union, City of San Fernando, is the most ...

on . He obtained his law degree from the

San Beda College of Law San Beda College of Law is the law school of San Beda University, a private, Roman Catholic university run by the Benedictine monks in the Philippines.Directory of Higher Education Institutions, Commission on Higher Education, 2006-2007. The mai ...

. Gaerlan served as a Public Attorneys' Office lawyer before becoming a municipal trial court judge in Bangar, La Union and later as a regional trial court judge in Branch 26 of San Fernando, La Union and Branch 92 of Quezon City. He was appointed as a

Court of Appeals An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellat ...

justice in 2009.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

In 2017, Gaerlan was nominated and interviewed for the seat vacated by

Jose C. Mendoza Jose Catral Mendoza (born August 13, 1947) is a former associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Legal career A political science graduate of the University of the Philippines, Jose Mendoza took up his law studies in the San ...

, but was not shortlisted. On January 8, 2020, President

chose Gaerlan over five shortlisted candidates and was appointed to the court to fill the seat vacated by

References

Living people 1958 births Associate justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Filipino judges Justices of the Court of Appeals of the Philippines People from La Union San Beda University alumni {{Philippines-politician-stub