Judge Maria Josefina San Juan Torres
Graduate of the University of the Philippines (Diliman), Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications ,major in Broadcasting (Cum Laude); Graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law with the degree of Juris Doctor; Admitted to the Philippine Bar in 1994; cross-cultural and legal experience, research studies and lectures on international law with specialized interest and training on human rights, refugees and statelessness, women, children, and gender in various local and international fora; presently Presiding Judge of Branch 79 (designated family court) and concurrent Executive Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Morong, Rizal; extensive training in the preparation of the court agenda, legal research and internal records management of the court while working at the Supreme Court and at the Court of Appeals and a pioneer on the institutionalization of a case management information system for the Court of Appeals; Professor of Law, Institute of Law, Far Eastern University and the University of Asia and the Pacific; Module lecturer at the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP).
Member of various committees of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, namely: Inter-agency Committee for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Other Persons of Concern; Special Committee on Facilitated Naturalization for Refugees and Stateless Individuals; Committee on Family Courts and Juvenile Concerns; Technical Working Group on the Rule on Anti-Terrorism Act Cases, Committee on the Proposed New Code of Judicial Conduct, Technical Working Group on the Implementing Rules on the Judiciary Marshals Act .
Member of the Department of Special Areas of Concern and Corps of Professors I of the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA); Vice President, International Association of Refugee and Migration Judges (Asia Pacific Chapter) and Member, Supervisory Council of the International Association of Refugee and Migration Judges ; Regional Director, Philippine Women Judges Association, Inc.; Author of various publications mostly involving women ,children, gender and other human rights issues.
Holder of significant various training/course certificates from: Advanced Courses of The Hague Academy of International Law in the Philippines (2024); Advanced Course on Childhood Statelessness and Child's Right to a Nationality - The International Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion (2021), Caring for Children Moving Along (Protecting Unaccompanied and Separated Children )- University of Strathclyde and Celcis (2019), Change Management in the Judiciary Philippine Australian Human Resource Development Foundation (2003), Summer Courses on Refugee Issues Center for Refugee Studies, York University (1995 & 1996), among others.
Holder of a Diplome in International and Comparative Human Rights Law from the Institut International Droits Des L'Hommes (Strasbourg, 1994) . The only female Southeast Asian to have been awarded this diplome. Graduate of the National Defense College of the Philippines, Master in National Security Administration, MNSA Regular Class 55 (AY 2019-2020), with distinction: Leadership Award and Class President , Gold Medal for Best Thesis entitled "The ImPOSSIBLE Dream: Bridging the Gap in the Access to Justice Mechanism Towards the Realization of the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Framework of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM)", Silver Medal for Academic Excellence.