Agnes Devanadera
Agnes Vicenta Salayo Torres-Devanadera(born April 5, 1950), also known as Agnes VST Devanadera, is a Filipina lawyer and politician serving as the chairperson of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) since 2017. During the Arroyo administration, she served as the Solicitor General of the Philippines from 2007 to 2010, the first woman to hold the post. She was also the acting Secretary of Justice on two short stints. Career. Devanadera was the 41st Solicitor General of the Philippines. She was appointed on February 22, 2007, by then-Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, succeeding Antonio Nachura who was appointed  in January 2007 to the post of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Devanadera assumed office on March 2, 2007. She is the first woman to occupy the office. Before her appointment Devanadera was a Government Corporate Counsel. She also became a candidate for the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines that was being vacated by Ruben T. Reyes after his retirement on January 2, 2009. President Arroyo initially appointed Devanadera Department of Justice (DoJ) officer-in-charge on September 1, 2007, then as acting secretary of the department on September 5 , 2007, to temporarily assist then-department secretary Raul Gonzalez, 75, when the latter was hospitalized for a bleeding stomach ulcer and later had kidney transplant. Alberto Agra succeeded her as Government Corporate Counsel at the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (OGCC) of the DoJ. Devanadera is an Ateneo de Manila Law School alumnus whose mentor is Hernando Perez, a former Secretary of Justice. Legal controversy. Previously, Devanadera and Antonio Nachura contested the position of Supreme Court associate justice vacated by Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban. Devanadera's name, however, was deleted in the final list of nominees submitted by the  Judicial and Bar Council to the President because of pending graft / regular administrative cases against her (Sec. 5.1, JBC-009 Rule) that Ilocos Sur Governor Luis Singson filed versus Devanadera and others before the Office of the Ombudsman of the Philippines. The criminal cases cited the Anti-Plunder Act in relation to the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and involved the Poro Point Special Economic and Freeport Zone. As government corporate counsel and member of the board of trustees of Manila Water (Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System), she was also sued for a MWSS board resolution dated July 29, 2004  deemed questionable. Disbarment case. An eight-page Supreme Court judgment of Conchita Carpio-Morales, dated July 4, 2008, dismissed an unverified letter-complaint of "concerned citizens" which charged Agnes VST Devanadera, Rolando Faller, and Santiago Varela of engaging "directly or indirectly in partisan political activities" in the last elections.