President Benigno Aquino III on Friday appointed Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Punzalan Aranal-Sereno as the 24th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is the first woman appointed as Chief Justice in history. Sereno is 52 years old, she will serve for 18 years or up to 2030. She will become the second longest serving Chief Justice, next to Cayetano Arellano who served for 19 years. "The President is confident that Chief Justice Sereno will lead the judiciary in undertaking much-needed reforms." Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said. "We believe the Judicial Branch of government has a historic opportunity to restore our people’s confidence in the judicial system." Sereno was the first appointee of Aquino to the Supreme Court, she was appointed by Pnoy as Associate Justice on August 16, 2010. Sereno is a valedictorian graduate from the UP College of Law in 1984. She worked as a professor at the UP College of Law from 1986 to 2005 for almost 20 years. She worked as the Deputy Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights. She also served as a consultant for United Nations, World Bank, and US Agency for International Development between 1995 and 2002.