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With a government service record spanning 45 years, De Castro formally accepted her nomination for Chief Justice on the last day for the submission of applications.
Should she be Duterte’s pick for the top judicial post, De Castro shall (1) have served at the helm of two collegial courts — the high court and the Sandiganbayan, having served as Presiding Justice of the latter from 2004 up to 2007; and (2) be the next lady Philippine Chief Justice, after the ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno and the voiding of her appointment on ground of ineligibility.
De Castro, set to retire in October, was nominated by the Judicial and Bar Council and by retired Sandiganbayan Associate Justice and former JBC member Raoul Victorino, who nominated all incumbent high court magistrates.
De Castro’s entire professional career is in government, beginning right where she is now - the SC - in 1973 as law clerk, fresh from the 1973 Bar Examinations.
She finished law, among the top 4 in her class, in 1972 at the University of the Philippines.
Two years following her entry to the SC, De Castro was designated judicial assistant and member of the technical staff of Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro, a position she held up to 1978.
Thereafter, she moved to the Department of Justice (DOJ) as State Counsel I up to 1981; she was promoted to State Counsel II in 1981.
Four years later, she was promoted to Senior State Counsel; she stayed in the post up to 1987.
In 1988, De Castro was promoted again as DOJ Supervising State Counsel and chief of the DOJ Legal Staff.
From 1988 to 1997, De Castro was designated by President Corazon Aquino and President Fidel Ramos as one of government’s international and peace negotiators. In 1998, Mr. Ramos awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Merit for Exceptionally Meritorious and Valuable Service Rendered and Remarkable Accomplishments that have served the interest of peace, unity and progress in Southern Philippines.
Her career at the DOJ culminated in her designation as Assistant Chief State Counsel in 1997, and on the same year she was appointed by Mr. Ramos as Associate Justice of the Sandiganbayan.
Six years later, in 2004, she became the Sandiganbayan's Presiding Justice.
In 2012, De Castro was elected president of the International Association of Women Judges which has a membership of over 100 countries. She is also currently the president of the Philippine Women Judges Association.
At the high court, De Castro was the Working Chairperson of the First Division, Chairperson of the Management Committee of the Judicial Reform Support Project, Working Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Ethics and Ethical Standards and of the Halls of Justice Coordinating Committee, Chairperson of the Committee on Computerization and Library, the Committee on Gender Responsiveness in the Judiciary, and the Special Committee to Draft Rules on Sexual Harassment in the Judiciary, and Member of the Supreme Court Internal Rules Committee.
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