Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa

Alfredo Benjamin Sabater Caguioa (born September 30, 1959) is a Filipino lawyer who has served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines since 2016. Before his appointment as associate justice, he served as the acting secretary of justice from 2015 to 2016 and chief presidential legal counsel under President Benigno Aquino III from 2013 to 2015.

Early life and education Caguioa was born on September 30, 1959. He is a son of Court of Appeals Justice Eduardo P. Caguioa. Having studied at the Ateneo de Manila University for his basic education, he finished elementary in 1973 then high school in 1977. He obtained his Economics degree from the same institution in 1981, and obtained a Bachelor of Laws from Ateneo de Manila Law School in 1985 where he ranked fifth in his class. On the same year he ranked 15th on the bar exam and was admitted to the Philippine Bar the following year.

Caguioa joined SyCip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan in 1986 and was a partner there from 1994 until February 2007. Together with five other lawyers from his previous firm, they founded the Caguioa and Gatmaytan and Associates in February 2007.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court On January 10, 2013, he was appointed as chief presidential legal counsel of President Benigno Aquino III, his classmate since grade school. He was part of the official delegation of the country to the Permanent Court of Arbitration for the South China Sea arbitration. After the resignation of then Secretary Leila de Lima in October 2015, he was appointed as acting secretary of the Department of Justice.

In July 2019, Caguioa wrote the Supreme Court's decision reversing the June 2016 conviction of Armie Narvas on illegal drug charges, which cited the prosecution's failure to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt before a regional trial court (RTC) in relation to a buy-bust operation within a subdivision in Santa Barbara, Pangasinan in March 2011, where no witnesses were present for Narvas' warrantless arrest. In the decision, Caguioa stated that "by thrashing basic constitutional rights as a means to curtail the proliferation of illegal drugs, instead of protecting the general welfare, oppositely, the general welfare is viciously assaulted.... A battle waged against illegal drugs that tramples on the rights of the people is not a war on drugs. It is a war against the people."

Upon Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta's early retirement in March 2021, Caguioa did not apply for the post of chief justice, with President Duterte appointing Alexander Gesmundo to the position; Duterte was noted to have bypassed more senior associate justices, including Caguioa, in spite of his stated position of respecting seniority.

Awards In 2016, President Benigno Aquino III awarded Caguioa the rank of Grand Cross or Bayani of the Order of Lakandula for his outstanding service.