Teresita de Castro: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|ChiefFilipino Justicejudge of(born the Philippines (20181948)}}

| honorific-prefix = [[The Honorable]]

| honorific_suffix =

| name = Teresita de Castro

| image = File:CJ-Decastro-2018.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| order = 24th

| office = Chief Justice of the Philippines

| appointer = [[Rodrigo Roa Duterte]]

| appointer1appointer2 = [[GloriaFidel MacapagalV. ArroyoRamos]]

'''Teresita "Tess"Leonardo Leonardo-Dede Castro''' (born '''Teresita Jose Leonardo'''; October 10, 1948)<ref>''[http://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/supremecourtjustices/chiefjustice/183 Profile on Website Supreme Court of the Philippines]''</ref><ref>Lian Buan, ''[https://www.rappler.com/nation/213778-chief-justice-teresita-de-castro-ends-stint-gifts-court-workers De Castro ends chief justice stint, leaves gifts to court workers]'', Rappler.com (October 8, 2018)</ref> is a [[Philippines|Filipina]] who served as the 24th [[Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines|Chiefchief Justice]]justice of the [[Supreme Court of the Philippines]]; she was appointed by President [[Rodrigo Roa Duterte]] on August 28, 2018. She assumed the vacated position sinceonce her predecessor, [[Maria Lourdes Sereno]], was removed via a [[Quo warranto petition against Maria Lourdes Sereno|''quo warranto'' petition]] (by declaring Sereno a ''de facto'' chief justice and making her 2012 appointment null and void ''ab initio''); making De Castro the ''de jure'' 24th chief justice, making herand the official first female chief justice of the Supreme Court.<ref>{{cite news|title=Teresita Leonardo de Castro is new Chief Justice|url=http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/08/25/Chief-Justice-Teresita-Leonardo-de-Castro.html|work=CNN Philippines|date=August 25, 2018|access-date=August 25, 2018|archive-date=August 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825072247/http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/08/25/Chief-Justice-Teresita-Leonardo-de-Castro.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

De Castro officially retired on October 10, 2018, after reaching the [[Supreme Court of the Philippines#Composition and manner of appointment|mandatory retirement age of 70]]; merely 46 days after serving as Chief Justice, surpassing the record of former Chief Justice [[Pedro Yap]] of being the shortest-tenured Chief Justice.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/25/18/de-castro-is-new-chief-justice-guevarra#|title=Teresita Leonardo-De Castro is new Supreme Court chief|last=News|first=ABS-CBN|work=ABS-CBN News|access-date=2018-08-25|language=en-US}}</ref>

Prior to her appointment to the HighSupreme Court by [[President of the Philippines|President]] [[Gloria Macapagal Arroyo]],<ref>{{cite web

De Castro's parents are Fortunato R. Leonardo and Maxima Jose of [[Parañaque]]. Justice De Castro resides at Merville Subdivision, [[Parañaque]]. She is married to businessman Eduardo A. De Castro and they have three children: Maria Cherell, Christine Genevive, and Edouard Anthony. Her half-brother, Eduardo L. Leonardo works as Executiveexecutive Assistantassistant VI in Sandiganbayan.<ref>[http://www.i-site.ph/Databases/Judiciary/Sandiganbayan/relatives/decastro-relatives.html Sandiganbayan Database profile of relatives in government of TERESITA LEONARDO DE CASTRO]</ref>

On August 25, 2018, President Duterte announced his appointment of Justice De Castro as the new Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, replacing [[Maria Lourdes Sereno]] who was removed from office by way of an 8–6 decision by the Supreme Court over a quo warranto petition.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/25/18/de-castro-is-new-chief-justice-guevarra|title= De Castro is the new Chief Justice-Guevarra|publisher=ABS-CBN News Online|date= 25 August 2018}}</ref> She formally assumed the office on August 28.<ref>{{cite news|title=De Castro is new Chief Justice until October|url=http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/08/25/Chief-Justice-Teresita-Leonardo-de-Castro.html|work=CNN Philippines|date=August 25, 2018|access-date=August 25, 2018|archive-date=August 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825072247/http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/08/25/Chief-Justice-Teresita-Leonardo-de-Castro.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On October 16, 2007, the [[Judicial and Bar Council]] (JBC) announced the final nominees to the Associate Justice [[Cancio Garcia]]'s vacant [[Supreme Court of the Philippines]] Associate Justice postseat. Teresita De Castro, Justices Edgardo Cruz and [[Martin Villarama]], got 7seven out of 8eight votes, while Associate Justices Francisco Villaruz and Edilberto G. Sandoval and Labor Secretary [[Arturo D. Brion]] got 5five votes each (from the JBC). Under Philippine law, the Presidentpresident has 90 days to choose from among the final nominees.<ref>[http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=94732 Inquirer.net, Sandiganbayan, 2 CA justices lead nominees for SC post] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222020451/http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=94732 |date=2008-02-22 }}</ref>

De Castro was sworn beforeby Chief Justice [[Reynato S. Puno]] on December 4, 2007.<ref>[http://www.gmanews.tv/story/71177/New-SC-CA-justices-to-be-sworn-in-Tuesday GmaNews.tv, New SC, CA justices to be sworn in Tuesday]</ref> Teresita de Castro stated: "Everything happens in God's time. I believe that my 34 years of service in the judiciary and a good track record make me qualified for this position." Immediately after being sworn in, she participated in her first en banc session.<ref>[https://archive.today/20070709212017/http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=101338 AbsCbn, De Castro takes oath of office]</ref>

De Castro became controversial when she was the Sandiganbayan's Presiding Justice after her Divisiondivision convicted former President [[Joseph Estrada]] for graft. Many believed that her decision was related to her subsequent appointment by former President [[Gloria Macapagal Arroyo]] as the 160th Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 2007 in exchange of her favorable decision.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

On August 25, 2018, De Castro was appointed by President [[Rodrigo Duterte]] as the [[Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines|Chief Justice of the Supreme Court]], following the ouster of [[Maria Lourdes Sereno]] via ''[[Quo warranto petition against Maria Lourdes Sereno|quo warranto]]''. She served 46 days until her mandatory retirement on her 70th birthday on 10 October. De Castro's appointment was criticized due to her expected short term of two months since she is obligated to retire on October 8, 2018, as well as her role as one of the five sitting justices who sought to nullify the appointment of Sereno as Chief Justice.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rappler.com/nation/210284-teresita-de-castro-supreme-court-chief-justice|title=Teresita de Castro is new Supreme Court Chief Justice|date=25 August 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Teresita Leonardo de Castro is new Chief Justice|url=http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/08/25/Chief-Justice-Teresita-Leonardo-de-Castro.html|work=CNN Philippines|date=August 25, 2018|access-date=August 25, 2018|archive-date=August 25, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825072247/http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2018/08/25/Chief-Justice-Teresita-Leonardo-de-Castro.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

{{s-bef|before=[[Renato Corona]] <br> {{small|''[[de jure]] - [[Impeachment in the Philippines|impeached]]''}}}}