Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez

Prior to his appointment as the 190th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez served as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals for almost nine years and was the Senior Member of the Fifth Division.

Justice Lopez graduated cum laude with a Political Science degree at University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, where he also pursued his law studies while working as a research assistant at the UP Institute of Judicial Administration.

He passed the Bar examinations in 1989 with an average of 84.55%. He then worked as UP's legal counsel for a year before being promoted as chief legal officer of UP Manila-Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

In 1991, he worked as chief legal counsel of the Senate under then Senate President Jovito Salonga. A year later, he entered politics and served as Councilor of the 3rd District of Manila. Despite being one of the youngest members of the council, he was consistently voted as Outstanding Councilor by the Manila Press Club. He also served as chief legal consultant of then Vice-Mayor Lito Atienza from 1992-1998.

In 1998, he served as chief legal consultant to then Health Secretary Felipe Estrella until then Agriculture Secretary Edgardo Angara tapped him as the country’s first agriculture attaché to Beijing, China. From 2001-2006, he once again served as City Councilor of Manila until his appointment as City Prosecutor of Manila in 2006. During his stint as a prosecutor for more than six years, he instituted some reforms such as the computerized system of monitoring cases.

Justice Lopez was also a partner at Lopez Rasul Maliwanag Baybay Palaran Law Offices from 1993 to 2006. He is an educator in various law schools, such as the UP College of Law, New Era University College of Law, and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Law. Born on February 8, 1963 in Umingan, Pangasinan, he will mandatorily retire on his 70th birthday in 2033.

Justice Antonio T. Kho, Jr.

Justice Antonio Tongio Kho, Jr. was born in 1966 in Sulu, Jolo. He received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the San Beda University College of Law in 1991, placing 10th in the Bar Examinations held that year. He served as Undersecretary of the Department of Justice from 2016 to 2018 before he was appointed as Commissioner of the Commission on Elections from 2018 until the end of his term on February 2, 2022. Justice Kho will compulsorily retire on June 29, 2036. Justice Kho took his oath as the 193rd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court before Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo on February 24, 2022.