THE Commission on Human Rights (CHR) welcomes Judge Maria Amifaith Fider-Reyes as its newly appointed commissioner, completing the roster of the 6th Commission en banc (CEB).
Fider-Reyes joins CHR nearly three years after the commencement of the current term, becoming the fifth and final member of the commission’s highest decision-making and policy-setting body.
Appointed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Nov. 13, 2024, with formal transmission to CHR on Nov. 15, Fider-Reyes serves a term extending until May 2029.
Before her appointment to CHR, she retired in December 2023 from the judiciary after 17 years of service. She was the presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court, Third Judicial Region, City of San Fernando, Pampanga, Branch 42, which functions as a general jurisdiction court and a designated Special Commercial Court.
For 12 years, she concurrently served as acting judge for other courts in Makati, Las Piñas, Quezon City and Manila.
Her distinguished career includes private practice in the Palma Ybañez Fider-Reyes Teleron Law Offices in Cebu City, the SyCip Salazar Hernandez and Gatmaitan Law Offices and the UP University Legal Counsel.
She taught law at the University of Southern Philippines and the University of San Jose Recoletos. She is a lecturer for the MCLE of the UP Law Center Institute for the Administration of Justice.
Her judicial experience is further enriched by her time as a court attorney and her work with Supreme Court and Court of Appeals justices.
A Chevening scholar, she specialized in the International Rights of the Child at the University of London, Queen Mary and Westfield Colleges. She has also been a visiting scholar at the International Legal Institute in Washington, D.C., and earned her Master of Laws at the University of Haifa in Israel.
