SC Associate Justice De Castro nominated to be next Ombudsman

(File photo) Associate Justice Teresita de Castro testifies before the House justice committee hearing on the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. /Eagle News Service/

(Eagle News) – Supreme Court Associate Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro has been nominated to replace Ombudsman Conchita Morales, who is set to end her 7-year term in July.

In nominating De Castro in a letter to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) dated May 3, retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Arturo Brion said she had had long years of experience in the prosecution and the judiciary.

“Through all these years, she has served the government with competence, probity and integrity,” Brion said.

“Her long years in the prosecutorial service (almost 19 years) and in the Sandiganbayan (more than 10 years), not to mention her more than a decade of experience as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, fully qualify her for the position of Ombudsman,” he added.

De Castro, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2007 and is set to retire this October, started as a law clerk in the Office of Clerk of Court in 1973.

She was transferred to the Department of Justice in 1978 and rose from the ranks to become Assistant Chief State Counsel in 1997.  She became the Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan on the same year and ultimately its Presiding Justice in 2004.

According to Brion, De Castro has also received notable awards including the Presidential Medal of Merit in 1998 for serving as one of the peace negotiators during the terms of Presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos, and the Chief Justice Hilario Davide Reform Award for the reforms she implemented in the Sandiganbayan.

He added that De Castro also served as President of the International Association of Women Judges in 2014-2016, and is currently the President of the Philippine Women Judges Association.

The Associate Justice has grabbed headlines for testifying in the impeachment hearings against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and for engaging in heated exchange with the Chief Justice during the oral arguments on the quo warranto petition which seeks to remove the top magistrate from post.

De Castro, has yet to accept the nomination, which is needed for the JBC to consider her for the post.