Hon. Jean Marie Alcantara Bacorro-Villena is one of the youngest Associate Justices appointed to the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) at the age of 46. Born to medical doctors, Arnulfo and Ermelinda Bacorro, she was a consistent top honor student and a student leader. She graduated Valedictorian in elementary and finished with the third highest honor in high school, respectively, from the Holy Rosary Academy (now Colegio de San Juan de Letran) in Manaoag, Pangasinan. She was also the Editor-in-Chief of her school paper, The Rosarian, and the Student Council President.
A Dean’s Lister in college, Justice Villena earned her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications (Major in Journalism) diploma from the University of the Philippines, and later on attended the San Beda College of Law and the Arellano University School of Law for the completion of her Bachelor of Laws degree. She graduated from law school in 2000, and took and passed the Bar Exam for the same year.
Prior to her appointment to the CTA in July 2019, Justice Villena has been with the Judiciary for over 18 years: 7 years as a Court Attorney/Law Clerk of the Supreme Court and over 11 years as a trial court judge. She was one of the Court Attorneys of then Supreme Court Associate Justices Jose C. Vitug and Renato C. Corona.
In March 2008, at the age of 34, she was appointed as the Presiding Judge of the Metropolitan Trial Court, Manila (MeTC Manila), Branch 6 where she maintained one of the lowest case dockets or with the highest case disposals. From 2008 to 2010, she was consistently nominated as one of the Outstanding First Level Court Judges. In 2011, she was selected and awarded Outstanding First Level Court Judge by the City Government of Manila.
At the time of Justice Villena’s promotion to the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in April 2012, she reported a “zero percent reversal” of her decisions in the MeTC of Manila. Even after her promotion to the RTC Manila, Justice Villena's case docket similarly remained to be one of the lowest among the RTC Manila branches. In 2016, she was again selected and awarded as one of the Outstanding RTC Judges of the City of Manila, and recognized and awarded as well by her colleagues at the RTC Judges Association of Manila as one of their outstanding members in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
In both courts, along with other cases, Justice Villena handled and decided tax-related cases falling under the two courts’ respective jurisdictions.
With her consistently low case docket as a trial court judge, Justice Villena was selected as a resource person of the Supreme Court's Sub-Committee in the Revision of the Rules in Civil Procedure (particularly in the drafting of proposed rules for hearing and adjudicating disputes) and a member of the Committee on Decongestion of Cases in the Lower Courts, both spearheaded by then Chief Justice Renato Corona and Associate Justice Roberto Abad.
Justice Villena is also a professorial lecturer/professor in different law schools since 2001 or for over 18 years prior to her appointment to the CTA. She has been teaching Criminal Procedure for the past 13 years and has taught Public International Law, Insurance Law, Transportation and Public Service Law, Legal Bibliography, Legal Writing, and Practice Court.
Justice Villena has earned commendations from, among others, the San Beda College of Law and the San Beda Alumni Association (that presented her with a Special Citation in 2014 and 2019); Arellano University School of Law (which twice awarded her in 2009 and 2016 for her remarkable and unblemished record as a magistrate); and, the Alumni Association of Holy Rosary Academy in Manaoag, Pangasinan (for her accomplishments in the field of public service and for continuously embodying the values of honesty and integrity).
Justice Villena is married to Vincent Villena, the Chief City Prosecutor of Taguig City, and they are blessed with two girls – Marga and Tisha.