By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson Gamaliel Asis Cordoba as the 196th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, placing the country’s top government auditor in the Judiciary’s highest tribunal.
Cordoba will fill the vacancy left by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, whose retirement is scheduled for November 16, 2026.
The Palace cited Cordoba’s leadership in strengthening government auditing, including comprehensive fraud audits of flood-control projects and the submission of at least 50 reports to the Office of the Ombudsman and the Independent Commission for Infrastructure.
He also institutionalized the use of GPS-based geotagging to monitor government infrastructure projects, a measure intended to strengthen transparency and accountability in public spending.
His appointment comes amid continuing scrutiny of alleged irregularities in government flood-control projects, making his previous work at the COA particularly significant.
Cordoba’s move to the Supreme Court leaves a leadership vacancy at the Commission on Audit. As of the latest announcement, no successor to the COA chairperson had been identified.
His transition from the country’s constitutional auditing body to the Supreme Court places a former public spending watchdog among the magistrates responsible for interpreting and applying the law.
ia/xf
