Nationality Filipino Education San Beda College Siblings Garland Aguirre | Spouse(s) Marissa Lim | |
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Preceded by Atty. Perlita M. Sagmit Full Name Vitaliano Napeñas Aguirre II Parents Maria Napeñas, Alfaro G. Aguirre Similar Leila de Lima, Jaybee Sebastian, Jack Lam, Perfecto Yasay Jr, Rodrigo Duterte | ||
Vitaliano "Vit" Napeñas Aguirre II (born October 16, 1946) is a Filipino lawyer from Quezon. On May 18, 2016, he was nominated as Secretary of the Department of Justice under President Rodrigo Duterte, which he accepted on the same day. He previously served as Vice President and chief legal counsel of Clark Development Corporation under former President Benigno Aquino III. He gained wide public attention in 2012 during the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona when he was cited for contempt after he was caught covering his ears while being lectured by the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago.
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Early life and education
Aguirre was born and raised in the municipality of Mulanay, the son of Alfaro G. Aguirre and Maria Napeñas. His father was a former mayor of the town who also served as Liberal Party chairman for almost 40 years. The eldest of 9 children, he attended the Mulanay Elementary School and graduated as class valedictorian in 1959. His family then moved to Manila where he received his high school and college education. He was a full scholar at San Beda College, graduating magna cum laude with a BA in 1967. He then pursued legal studies at San Beda College of Law where he was a classmate of Rodrigo Duterte. He finished law school as valedictorian and cum laude of Class 1971. He passed the bar examination the same year.
Career
Aguirre has been in private practice for many years. He established a law firm in Makati with partners Rodolfo Robles, Sixto Brillantes, Jose Ricafrente, Antonio Nachura and Antonio San Vicente. He served as the lead counsel of Hubert Webb in the 1995 Vizconde murders case and as deputy counsel of the Feliciano Commission's fact-finding investigation of the 2003 Oakwood mutiny. During the impeachment trial of Renato Corona, he was tapped as one of several private prosecutors tasked to secure the Chief Justice's conviction.
Aguirre is currently a managing partner at Aguirre & Aguirre Law Office. He also teaches law at the Arellano University Law Foundation. In March 2013, he assumed the post of Vice President for Legal Affairs of the government-owned Clark Development Corporation.
Aguirre was also a lawyer for then Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. He served as the latter's chief legal counsel on the cases seeking to disqualify Duterte during the 2016 presidential campaign, as well as on cases linking the President to the Davao death squads. He likewise represented a policeman who owned a quarry site turned into a firing range where remains of supposed victims of these alleged death squads were believed to have been buried.
