Marvic Leonen

Mario Victor "Marvic" Famorca Leonen (born December 29, 1962) is a Filipino jurist who has served as an associate justice of the Philippine Supreme Court since 2012. Appointed by President Benigno Aquino III at age 49, he became the second-youngest justice named to the Court since 1938. Since the retirement of Estela Perlas-Bernabe in 2022, Leonen has served as the Court's senior associate justice. Before joining the Supreme Court, Leonen built an extensive career in environmental advocacy, human rights law, and academia. He co-founded the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center in 1987 and was a long-time member of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG). A faculty member at the University of the Philippines College of Law since 1989, he eventually served as the university's general counsel, the first vice president for legal affairs of the UP System, and dean of the College of Law from 2008 to 2011. In 2010, Leonen was appointed as the Philippine government's chief peace negotiator with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), successfully securing the framework agreement that led to the establishment of the Bangsamoro political entity. On the Supreme Court, he is known for his liberal jurisprudence, including his landmark decision in Tan-Andal v. Andal that removed the requirement of medical experts in proving psychological incapacity in marriage nullity cases. Beyond his rulings, Leonen has actively championed systemic reforms; he chaired the historic, digitized 2020/2021 bar examinations, authored the 2023 New Lawyer's Oath, and proposed the writ of kalayaan as a constitutional remedy to address severe prison overcrowding.