PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro as the country’s new chief justice, just weeks before her mandatory retirement from the judiciary.
Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro FILE PHOTO
Special Assistant to the President (SAP) Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go and Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra told reporters on Saturday that Duterte had chosen de Castro to replace Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was stripped of the chief justice post via quo warranto in May.
“I have been informed that the President’s choice has been publicly announced by SAP Bong Go and that the formal appointment will be released by [Executive Secretary Salvador] Medialdea on Tuesday,” said Guevarra, a member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), the body constitutionally mandated to screen applicants for the judiciary.
“Her appointment as chief justice is a fitting finale to her illustrious career in both the Department of Justice and the judiciary,” he added.
In a separate statement, Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. hailed de Castro as the “best choice” for chief justice.
“Bravo! Best choice for CJ! Proven competence, known nationalist, and a streak of being a judicial activist!” Roque told reporters.
De Castro was among the three associate justices who were included in the shortlist submitted by the JBC to Duterte.
The 69-year-old de Castro, however, will only serve for a few weeks. De Castro will retire on October 8 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.
In her interview before the JBC, she said her short term would not get in the way of her effectiveness as chief magistrate.
“It is not as if I am going to start today working on projects that will benefit the court,” de Castro had said.
Sereno’s nemesis
De Castro was among the eight justices who voted to unseat Sereno, one of the youngest magistrates ever appointed.
The high court, in May, voted 8-6 to oust Sereno over missing wealth declaration documents. The tribunal affirmed the controversial ruling in June.
De Castro made headlines in April after trading barbs with Sereno during oral arguments on the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida to void her appointment.
De Castro had said she did not let emotions get in the way of her work, without admitting her rumored rivalry with the younger justice.
Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed de Castro to the Supreme Court in 2007.
De Castro has served the government for 45 years. She began as law clerk at the Supreme Court in 1973 after earning her law degree at the University of the Philippines in 1972.
She also served as state counsel at the Department of Justice in 1978, assistant chief state counsel in 1997, associate justice of the Sandiganbayan in the same year, and presiding justice of the anti-graft court in 2004.
Estrada’s judge
De Castro was head of the Sandiganbayan Special Division that convicted deposed president Joseph Estrada of plunder in 2007. Arroyo would later pardon Estrada.
When de Castro retires in October, the next five senior justices will again be automatically nominated.
They are: Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo and Estela Perlas Bernabe.
Carpio and Bersamin will retire in October 2019. Peralta retires in March 2022, del Castillo in July 2019 and Bernabe in May 2022.
‘Endo CJ’
Sen. Francis Pangilinan on Saturday questioned the logic behind the appointment of de Castro as the new chief justice.
The senator said the “appointment of ‘endo’ CJ (chief justice) does not help in the strengthening of the rule of law.”
“Why appoint someone who will only sit as chief justice for less than two months? What public purpose does it serve?” the opposition senator asked.
“What public value does it create? The appointment leaves much to be desired,” Pangilinan said.
Administration allies, Senators Gregorio Honasan 2nd and Richard Gordon, said de Castro deserved the post.
“The appointment of a new Supreme Court chief justice whoever he or she is, in this case Justice Teresita de Castro, introduces elements of stability, continuity and predictability not only to the judiciary but to our democracy,” Honasan said in a text message.
Gordon believes de Castro “will do very well with her experience as a legal luminary for 45 years.”
“I’m just comfortable that she was there. She knows what to do. Remember that she has been a justice for a long time. It’s a great reward for somebody who has been there for a long time,” he said in a radio interview.
https://www.manilatimes.net/de-castro-gets-short-stint-as-chief-justice/434689/
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