Sandoval is the interim replacement of former Presiding Justice Minita Chico-Nazario, who is now an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court after taking her oath of office before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo last week.

Sandoval, concurrent chairman of the Second Division, also assumed the chairmanship, again in an acting capacity, of the Special Division that hears the plunder and perjury cases against former President Joseph Estrada.

He would act as the anti-graft court chief magistrate until Arroyo appoints Nazario’s permanent replacement who will come from the short list prepared by Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

Being the acting presiding justice, Sandoval has an advantage to get the JBC nomination for the position also being eyed by three of his colleagues in the Sandiganbayan.

The three are Associate Justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro (First Division chairwoman), Gregory Ong (Fourth Division chairman) and Francisco Villaruz Jr. (Second Division senior member).

Among the three, De Castro is the strongest contender of Sandoval for the Sandiganbayan’s highest post.

De Castro and Sandoval are both appointees of former President Fidel Ramos to the anti-graft court and members of the Special Division, formerly chaired by Nazario.

De Castro made news when she issued rulings declaring as government- owned the bulk shares of businessman Eduardo "Danding’’ Cojuangco Jr. in United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) and the 27 percent capital stocks in San Miguel Corp. (SMC).

She also concurred in the three significant resolutions written by Nazario in the Estrada cases, namely: the grant of Estrada’s petition to undergo knee operation in the United States in December 2003; his recent transfer of detention from Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal to a nearby resthouse owned by him; and his exoneration from the charge of illegal use of an alias when he signed "Jose Velarde’’ in a bank account in 2000.

Sandoval dissented to the first two resolutions, which are both reversals of the previous resolutions of the Sandiganbayan.

In 1963, Sandoval finished law (cum laude) at the Far Eastern University (FEU), where he also finished Associate in Arts course with high honors.

He started working in the judiciary in 1983 when the late President Ferdinand Marcos appointed him as Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro.

He became RTC judge of Manila in 1986 before he was appointed as Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan in 1996.

Sandoval is a law professor teaching criminal law in Ateneo de Manila, San Beda College, San Sebastian, Arellano University, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Perpetual Help University, University of Santo Tomas, University of the East, and FEU.

He was twice appointed by the Supreme Court as bar examiner in criminal law, and legal and judicial ethics in the 1993 and 1998 bar exams, respectively.