PRESIDENT Arroyo has appointed Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro to replace Supreme Court Associate Justice Cancio Garcia who retired last Oct. 20.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the appointment papers have been forwarded to the Supreme Court.

De Castro, 59, was part of the three-magistrate Sandiganbayan Special Division that convicted former President Joseph Estrada of plunder last September.

De Castro began as a law clerk, legal and judicial assistant in the Supreme Court, serving from 1973 to 1978. She was state counsel (1978-1985), and promoted to senior state counsel (1985-1987), supervising state counsel, and chief of legal staff (1988-1989).

De Castro was the chief of legal staff of the Department of Justice from 1989 to 1995.

She was appointed to the Sandiganbayan in 1997.

She earned her law degree at the University of the Philippines and passed the bar exams in November 1972 with a score of 80.9 percent.

She is married to businessman Eduardo A. de Castro. A daughter, Christine Genevieve, 28, is executive assistant at the Court of Appeals.

Her half-brother, Eduardo L. Leonardo, is an executive assistant at the Sandiganbayan. – Regina Bengco