Regalado Maambong

He was born in Santa Fe, Cebu. His father, Joaquin Tagalog Maambong, was a judge.[2] He studied pre-law at the University of San Carlos in Cebu, before completing his law degree at Ateneo de Manila University, a Jesuit university in Manila.[2] He passed the Philippines bar exam within the top 20 for the country.[2] A criminologist, Maambong later served as the dean of the College of Criminology of the University of the Visayas.[2]

Maambong served in both the Filipino legislative and executive branches of government.[1] He was elected to the Batasang Pambansa in 1984 as a member of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL).[2]

After the fall of Ferdinand Marcos, President Corazon Aquino appointed Maambong as a trial judge in Cebu and then as a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission.[2] As a member of the Commission, Maambong helped to write and draft the Constitution of the Philippines drafted in 1987.[2] Aquino then appointed Maambong as a Commissioner of the Commission on Elections, or Comelec.[2]

Maambong retired from Comelec and ran as a candidate for Governor of Cebu in 1998.[2] However, he was defeated Pablo Garcia (Filipino politician).[2] In 2002, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as an associate justice of the Court of Appeals of the Philippines.[2] He served as the chairman of the 15th Division of the Court of Appeals until 2009.[2] Maambong made an unsuccessful bid for the Philippines Senate in 2010.[2]

He was considered an expert in election law.[1] Maambong spearheaded and advocated the automation of the Philippines election system, which was fully implemented for the May 2010 Philippine general election.[1]

Regalado Maambong died from multiple organ failure at his condominium in Quezon City on May 27, 2011, aged 72.[2] He was survived by his wife, Ruth, two sons Victor and Renren, and five grandchildren.[1][2] Maambong was laid in state at St. Peter's Memorial Chapel, cremated at Quezon City Columbarium, and his remains returned to Cebu, his home province.[1] His ashes were spread at a cemetery in Asturias, Cebu.[3]

Philippines Chief Justice Renato Corona called Maambong "a great man. A constitutionalist, an election expert and a great jurist. [The death of] Justice Maambong was a big loss to the legal circle and to the academe. His contributions in the field of law will never be forgotten."[1]