SC Associate Justice Singh elected president of International Association of Women Judges

Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Maria Filomena D. Singh has been unanimously elected as next president of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) for 2027-2029 term during its biennial conference held this month in Cape Town, South Africa.

For 2025 to 2027 term and until her official assumption as IAWJ president, Justice Singh will serve the association as president-elect. She is IAWJ’s regional director for the Asia Pacific Region for 2023-2025 term.

Founded in 1991 and based in Washington, DC, United States, IAWJ has more than 10,400 members all over the world.

Its website states: “Through judicial and community level response, we address issues of gender-based violence, human trafficking, early and forced marriages, corruption, and discrimination in employment, inheritance, education, and health services.”

“While the role of judges is largely in the enforcement of the law, guaranteeing rights, and even striking down discriminatory laws and practices, IAWJ members go further by providing expert opinion in law reform, overseeing correctional or other facilities (e.g., reform schools, orphanages), and educating community members,” it also states.

The IAWJ said its members work “to cultivate a growing global network of women judges and create opportunities for judicial exchange; to pioneer judicial education programs that advance human rights, eliminate gender bias from judicial systems; to promote equal access to the courts; and to promote judicial leadership and enhance the capacity of our members and associations worldwide.”

The SC’s Office of the Spokesperson said that “Justice Singh will be the second Filipino to lead the global organization, following retired Chief Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-de Castro, who served from 2014 to 2016.”

She still has 11 years to serve the SC until her mandatory retirement at age 70 in June 2036.

Justice Singh finished her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, at the University of the Philippines, and her law degree at the Ateneo de Manila University with second honors distinction.

She pursued her Master of Laws in International Legal Studies at the American University in Washington, DC.

In 2002, she joined the judiciary as judge of the metropolitan trial court (METC) in Quezon City and was promoted judge of the city’s regional trial court (RTC) in 2007.

In 2014, Singh was appointed associate justice of the Court of Appeals (CA), the country’s second highest court.

Eight years later on May 18, 2022, she took her oath of office before Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo as the 194^th SC associate justice.

At the SC, Justice Singh is the co-chairperson of the Committee on Gender Responsiveness in the Judiciary and the FAIR Justice Program Management Committee.

Based on her profile at the SC website, Justice Singh is also chairperson of the sub-committees and technical working groups of the Review of the New Code of Judicial Conduct for the Philippine Judiciary; the Review of the Code of Conduct for Court Personnel; the working group to Compile, Classify, and Index All Pertinent Rules, Guidelines and Issuances on Pleading, Practice and Procedure; the group on Feminism in Philippine Jurisprudence; the group on Digitalization of Rollos and Philippine Reports; and the Justice Sector Coordinating Council group on Processes and Capacity Building, among others.

Justice Singh is the vice chairperson of the Committee for the Council of ASEAN Chief Justices Working Group on the Conduct of Videoconferencing. She is also the vice chairperson of the Supreme Court Governing Council for Mental Health; the Oversight Committee for the Implementation of Rule 138-A or the Revised Law Student Practice Rule; Special Committee on Cybercrime and Electronic Evidence; and the Technical Working Group for Forms Under the Sub-Committee for the Revision of the Rules of Criminal Procedure. Justice Singh is also a Co-Vice Chairperson of the Committee on Sustainability and Environmental Concerns.

She is also a member of the Technical Working Group on Electronic Notarization; the Committee on the Revision of the Rule of Summary Procedure and Small Claims Cases; the Sub-Committee on the Revision of the Rules of Criminal Procedure; and the Philippine Statistical Development Program Steering Committee.

In 2023, Justice Singh was invited to sit as a member of the Advisory Working Group of the United Nations Development Programme –Judicial Integrity Network in the ASEAN, and designated as the Focal Person for the Supreme Court in the Philippine Open Government Partnership Initiative.

After her election as IAWJ regional director in 2023, Justice Singh led the IAWJ Asia and the Pacific Regional Conference in Cebu, Philippines where 450 women judges from countries across the region participated in sessions focusing not only on their achievements, but also on best practices for other women magistrates to take inspiration from.

She has also spearheaded and continues to lead several gender justice initiatives in the SC, including the formulation of the Guidelines on the Use of Gender-Fair Language in the Judiciary and Gender-Fair Courtroom Etiquette, to combat sexist language and promote sensitivity towards diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions.

Also in 2023, the SC published the Study on Gender Mobility and Representation which traced the progression of women in the judicial hierarchy and highlighted obstacles to women’s rise in the judiciary.

Justice Singh then authored the HerStory Award in 2023 to highlight the journeys of remarkable Filipino women judges from across the country and promote women in leadership positions especially in the Judiciary.

Also, under Justice Singh’s leadership, the SC’s Justice Sector Coordinating Council released the Victim Sensitive Guidelines in September 2024. The guidelines provide specific provisions on victims’ safety and privacy; victims’ right to information; the physical, psychological, and social recovery of victims; standards for evidence; rules on interactions with victims; rules on forensic evidence; and special provisions for child victims and victims with disabilities.

She is now involved in the revision of Code of Conduct for Court Personnel and the New Code of Judicial Conduct for the Philippine Judiciary.

Justice Singh was the first SC justice to chair the 2024 Shari-ah Bar examinations which were conducted regionally and digitally in English and hand-written in Arabic.