Marcos names new CA presiding justice

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has appointed Associate Justice Mariflor Punzalan Castillo as the new presiding justice of the Court of Appeals (CA).

Castillo replaces Remedios Salazar-Fernando, who retired on Sept. 2.

According to the Supreme Court, Castillo took her oath before Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo on Nov. 15.

Castillo is the first top-level appointment of Marcos to the judiciary.

She began her legal career as an investigator at the Office of the Tanodbayan – now called the Office of the Ombudsman – in 1979.

She was then appointed prosecutor to that office in 1985 and promoted to Special Prosecution Officer III under the Office of the Special Prosecutor of the Office of the Ombudsman four years later.

She served in the post for four years.

Castillo officially joined the judiciary when she served as the presiding judge of the Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 42 of Quezon City from 1993 to 1999 and then as presiding judge of the Regional Trial Court Branch 84 from 1999 to 2004.

She was appointed to the CA as an associate justice on March 9, 2004.