Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh opened up about her cancer battle at the court's first Distinguished Women’s Forum on March 24, 2026. She underwent chemotherapy and surgery, returned to work after clearance, and continues oral chemotherapy medication. Singh emphasized getting up and fighting another day despite challenges.
In Manila, Philippines, Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh spoke at the 1st Supreme Court Distinguished Women’s Forum on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. She shared her cancer experience, noting heavy days when she did not want to get up, but thought of those facing worse hardships. “But then you think about all the people who are probably having a more difficult time and you tell yourself how can you complain with everything that has been given to you, with everything that you have been blessed with, you have no reason to complain,” Singh said. “So you get up again and you fight another day,” she added. She appeared alongside retired Chief Justice Teresita de Castro, retired Associate Justice and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, and retired Associate Justice Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez. Singh viewed her diagnosis as a reminder to value each day. “We are where we are because we were meant to do something while we are here,” she said. Appointed the 194th Supreme Court associate justice by former President Rodrigo Duterte in May 2022, she previously served as presiding judge of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 85 and associate justice of the Court of Appeals. She earned her law degree with second honors from Ateneo de Manila University School of Law and a Master of Laws in International Legal Studies from Washington College of Law at American University in Washington DC. Currently, she co-chairs the committee on gender responsiveness in the judiciary and chairs sub-committees reviewing judicial conduct codes. She leads the Manual and Protocol for Women in Conflict with the Law. In 2025, Singh was elected president of the International Association of Women Judges. “I feel that I am here because I need to do something, and so while I have the time, I will do it,” she said.
