MANILA, Philippines — Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro bid goodbye to the Supreme Court yesterday, swearing that she never played politics and remained loyal to the institution.
After 39 days in office, a retirement ceremony was held for De Castro late yesterday afternoon with former president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo among those who attended.
It was Arroyo who appointed De Castro as SC justice in 2007. She was named chief justice by President Duterte and assumed office on Aug. 28. She will retire on Oct. 10 or only after 43 days since she took over her position.
Aside from Arroyo, also present in the event were Sen. Richard Gordon, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra and Ombudsman Samuel Martires.
Guevarra said that in her retirement speech, De Castro thanked her family and enumerated her accomplishments during her less than two months stint as Chief Justice.
“She traced her legal and judicial career, acknowledged the love and support of her family, noted the lack of collegiality in decision-making on administrative matters during the last few years, and enumerated the many things that she had accomplished” during her days as chief justice, Guevarra said.
ABS-CBN reporter Ina Reformina, who was among those invited at the ceremony, tweeted that De Castro thanked her colleagues for their intellectually stimulating work aside from saying that in her 45 years in government where she served six presidents, she kept her loyalty to the institution and did not play politics.
De Castro is considered as the first female SC chief justice after the appointment of ousted Maria Lourdes Sereno was voided when a majority of the justices voted in favor of the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida.
Meanwhile, as they were holding the ceremony inside the SC, a group of students from the University of the Philippines–Manila held a rally outside the court along Padre Faura to protest against Arroyo, who they said also committed human rights violations.
Lee Suelan, a third year student at the UP College of Medicine and spokesperson for the Youth Movement Against Tyranny, said they were also protesting the “red tag” of the military on 18 universities for allegedly being used as recruitment ground by terrorists to destabilize the government.
Related video: