+ A
A -
AGENCIES / INQUIRER.NET
MANILA
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro as the new Chief Justice, according to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, an ex-officio member of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).
"I have been informed that the President's choice has been publicly announced by SAP [Special Assistant to the President] Bong Go and that the formal appointment will be released by ES [Executive Secretary Salvador] Medialdea on Tuesday," said Guevarra.
"Her appointment as Chief Justice is a fitting finale to her illustrious career in both the Department of Justice and the judiciary," added Guevarra.
She bested Associate Justices Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin.
De Castro will be serving up to October 10, 2018.
Associate Justice Teresita J Leonardo-de Castro is the second most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She has been in government service for 45 years.
Born October 10, 1948, De Castro will retire at a mandatory age of 70 on October 10, 2018. She started her career as law clerk from the Supreme Court in 1973. Then, she moved to the Department of Justice (DOJ) to work as a state counsel in 1978. In 1997, she was appointed as a Sandiganbayan Associate Justice by then President Fidel V. Ramos and became its Presiding Justice in 2004. She was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by then President now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on December 3, 2007.
During her stint as a Sandiganbayan justice, she authored the decision convicting former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada for plunder.
In 2015, the Supreme Court dismissed the disqualification case against Estrada saying he was eligible to run for Mayor of Manila. It was De Castro who penned the decision.
