Monday, October 06, 2008 Mary Ann may be appointed MTCC judge of Lapu-Lapu By Jujemay G. Awit Sun.Star Staff Reporter
ASSISTANT Cebu City Prosecutor Mary Ann Castro is expecting to be appointed as Lapu-Lapu City Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) judge today.
Castro initially refused to comment on reports of her appointment in a phone interview with Sun.Star Cebu yesterday, but after much prodding, the prosecutor said she heard that her appointment papers may be released today.
“It may be guhit ng tadhana,” Castro also said in a text message.
While there is yet to be a confirmation on her appointment, Castro said that some of her lawyer friends have been calling her about it. Apparently, a Malacañang insider leaked the information.
But Sec. Cerge Remon-de, director-general of the Presidential Management Staff, said he didn’t hear anything about it.
Neither did Justice Sec. Raul Gonzales.
“I don’t have that kind of information,” Gonzales told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
While he sits at the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) as an ex-officio member, Gonzales said he does not remember Castro’s name being considered for the Lapu-Lapu City MTCC post.
Gonzales had approved Castro’s request to stay as a prosecutor deputized at the Bureau of Immigration.
Castro believes that if her appointment pushes through, she has a maximum of a year to prepare before assuming her post.
“I still need guidance from Simala,” she said, referring to the popular Marian Shrine in Upper Lindogon, Barangay Simala in Sibonga town.
“Siyempre, kung mao gyud akong kapalaran, akong dawaton. But I still have a year before I can assume the post, granting there is an appointment (Of course, if it’s my destiny to be a judge then I’ll accept it),” said Castro.
She feels like she is following the footsteps of Cebu City Regional Trial Court Judge Ester Veloso of Branch 6. She narrated that Veloso used to preside over the lone Lapu-Lapu City MTCC and the cubicle Castro is occupying now at the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office used to be Veloso’s cubicle.
Castro said she did not even submit a formal letter of intent when she applied for the post last February. She heard about the vacancy on the day of the deadline for the submission of applications. Using only a pen and a bond paper, she wrote her letter of intent and submitted it.
Fortunately for her, she was considered.
Last July, Castro and eight other applicants were interviewed by the JBC members—retired Supreme Court justice Regino Hermosisima Jr., Dean Amado Dimayuga as academe representative, Justice Raoul Victorino as public sector representative and lawyer Conrado Castro representing the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Castro said of the reported appointment.
She remembered that Dimayuga told her that she was “overqualified” for the post based on her performance in handling cases. But she was also told that the cases she is facing were a cause for concern.
Castro is facing a criminal case before the anti-graft office for allegedly lying in court to get an annulment. She is also on trial for bribery at the Sandiganbayan Third Division.
But Castro dismissed her graft case as a form of harassment from a businessman she had a traffic altercation with.
“I (was) the victim in those cases... Is that justice?” was Castro’s reply to Dimayuga’s concern during her JBC interview at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.
If justice will be on her side and if the appointment becomes official today, then this is what Castro has to say to her critics, “Just be good. You cannot pull me down because I’m doing good. Just always pray.”
