Castro asks DOJ to freeze her suspension

CEBU, Philippines - Assistant Cebu City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro asked Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima to hold her suspension until after her motion will be resolved.

Castro had sent a letter to De Lima through Claro Arellano, Prosecutor-General of National Prosecution Service-DOJ Manila, requesting to hold in abeyance the implementation of the order to suspend her dated December 18, 2006.

Castro was suspended for three months after she was found guilty for misconduct in an administrative case.

However, Castro said the approval of her suspension signed by Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Mark Jalandoni is invalid and ineffectual for lack of authority.

Castro said Jalandoni has no authority and jurisdiction to order her suspension.

Castro said her case was on 2006 and Jalandoni was given the authority to sign the approval of cases only on a June 11, 2010-memorandum.

In her letter, she claimed that the order of Jalandoni is still invalid because of the four-year gap between her case and Jalandoni’s authority.

“Clearly, Honorable Mark Jalandoni went overboard,” her letter reads.

Castro added that she filed an urgent motion for reconsideration before the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas and this has to be resolved first.

She earlier said the suspension order is not final and executory.

The suspension order stemmed from a complaint filed the Ombudsman against Castro for forum shopping in her annulment case against her husband.

This case was in 2006, when Castro filed a motion for reconsideration. It was only in June 2010 when the decision was approved by Jalandoni.

Castro, in her motion, said that the complaint filed against her has no relation at all to her being the assistant city prosecutor.

But Graft Investigator Vicente Roble cited the decision on the case Remolona vs. Civil Service Commission, which states, “the private life of an employee cannot be segregated from his public life. Dishonesty inevitably reflects on the fitness of the officer or employee to continue in office and the discipline and morale of the service.” –(FREEMAN)