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