Palace: SC appointment not connected to Erap conviction
Malacañang defended the decision of President Arroyo to appoint Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro to the Supreme Court, saying that it had nothing to do with the conviction of former President Joseph Estrada.
De Castro also defended her appointment during her oath-taking last Tuesday after the same question was raised.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said that De Castro was the logical choice because of her qualifications and consistent inclusion in the list of nominees of the Judicial and Bar Council.
Ermita pointed out that De Castro’s name was on the list of nominees to the Supreme Court submitted by the JBC in two previous occasions and that her name was always on top of the list.
In the first instance, Ermita recalled that she was a favorite to become associate justice of the High Court but since she was still hearing the case of the former president, she had to be “bypassed.”
It was former
The second time De Castro was nominated by the JBC, Ermita noted that the Estrada case was still ongoing and so the President decided to appoint then Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeals Ruben Reyes.
“Two vacancies before, Justice De Castro has been high in the totem pole of the nomination of the JBC, but at the time she was still handling the case of Erap. She was in a sense bypassed even though she was number one on the list,” Ermita said.
Ermita said that being assigned the task of heading the special court to hear the case of Mr. Estrada was, in a sense, bad luck for De Castro as it delayed her assumption to the highest court of the land.
“Let’s give it first to the fact that Justice De Castro is very qualified. I don’t know whether to say that it’s too bad that she became the head of the special court in the Sandigan that heard that special case but let’s not castigate her for that,” he said. – Paolo Romero
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