SC Justice De Castro nominated as next Ombudsman

Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro has been nominated as Ombudsman to replace Conchita Carpio Morales, who retires in July.

Retired SC associate justice Arturo Brion sent his two-page nomination letter to the Judicial and Bar Council on May 3, citing De Castro's 45-year career in government as a qualification.

"Through all these years, she has served the government with competence, probity and integrity," Brion's letter said.

It was not immediately known if De Castro has accepted the nomination.

De Castro, who was appointed to the high court in December 2007, will retire in October.

"Her long years in the prosecutorial service (almost 19 years) and 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," the letter said.

De Castro was appointed associate justice of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan in September 1997 and became its presiding justice in December 2014.

She was president of the International Association of Women Judges from 2014-2016 and is the current president of the Philippine Women Judges Association.

Before this, she was designated as an international and peace negotiator under former presidents Corazon Aquino and Fidel Ramos from 1998 to 1997.

She was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Merit in 1998 and of the Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Reform Award in 2005 for "reform projects" she spearheaded and adopted while in the anti-graft court, including its computerized case management system, the letter said.

De Castro was law clerk in the SC's Office of the Clerk of Court in 1973, moved to the Department of Justice in 1978, and rose from the ranks before becoming Assistant Chief State Counsel in 1997, it said.

She is an alumna of the University of the Philippines, where she earned both her bachelor's and law degrees in 1968 and 1972, respectively, according to her profile on the SC website.

The associate justice is one of the SC magistrates who Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno wanted, in a failed attempt, to inhibit from deciding the ouster petition against her.

De Castro figured in a heated exchange with Sereno during the oral arguments on Solicitor General Jose Calida's petition for quo warranto last month as she questioned the top magistrate on the filing of her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

She also testified in the House justice committee's hearings on the impeachment charges against Sereno, saying at one point that the latter's appointment as chief magistrate in 2012 was a "grave injustice" to the other applicants, including herself.

A private citizen had wanted Calida to initiate quo warranto proceedings against De Castro for her alleged failure to file all her SALNs while she was in government service, but this bid was denied for lack of supporting evidence.

The application period for those aspiring to succeed Morales in the Office of the Ombudsman lasts until May 15, after being extended from the original May 2 deadline. — RSJ, GMA News