Former magistrate's judge Alberto Tolentino has been nominated by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero as the next judge of the Superior Court of Guam. He will replace retiring Judge Anita Sukola who is stepping down later this month. 

"One of the questions I asked is why do you want to be a judge, and her replied to me, I don't know if you remember this, but I do so vividly, 'governor I just want to help our people of Guam," Tolentino said during a press conference. 

Tolentino served in private practice, he was a prosecutor at the Office of the Attorney General and served many years as the court's magistrate judge. He says it's an honor to step up.

"As time progressed in my position I started to get like the master collection calendar, got to do special projects as a referee in other cases," he said. "And what it did was it gave me more exposure to what other things to what the general jurisdiction judge does. And those are the things I think are very important to our society."

Judge Sukola will retire on March 26, and Gov. Leon Guerrero is urging the legislature to move fast on the confirmation process.

 

"I will present his packet down to the legislature right away and I'm hoping the oversight chair of the committee on judiciary would quickly and expeditiously vet and consent," she said. 

 

 

Tolentino is the second judge to be nominated by governor leon guerrero during