February 8, 2010

THE retirement of Chief State Prosecutor Jovito Zuño from service today will trigger a mini-revamp at the Department of Justice.

If the chatter from the Department of Justice is to be believed, Quezon City Prosecutor Claro Arellano, an Ateneo

Law 1981 classmate of Philippine Stock Exchange president Francis Lim and former Internal Revenue Commissioner Rene Bañez, has already sewn up his appointment as Zuño’s replacement.

In addition to being the chairman and president of the Chief Prosecutors Association Inc., Arellano apparently has three things going for him: His links with the Iglesia ni Cristo, his being the lead prosecutor in the 11 Kuratong Baleleng murder cases against Senator Panfilo Lacson, and his being known personally by the Malacañang judicial headhunter, ex-Quezon City fiscal Carlos de Leon.

Jose Vicente Salazar

According to the grapevine, with Arellano being transferred to Padre Faura, Rolando Faller, the trusted chief of staff of Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera, leads the pack of candidates for

the Quezon City chief prosecutor’s position.

Currently on detail at the DOJ from the Office of Solicitor General, Faller was recruited from the Balgos & Perez law firm, just like Devanadera who had been instrumental in bringing in the putative Quezon City chief prosecutor to the OSG and thence onto the DOJ.

The rigodon will also wash up at the undersecretary level, with Arroyo appointee Jose Vicente Salazar leaving this April for a month-long fellowship sponsored by the US State Department.

A former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, it was not immediately clear if Salazar would return to the Justice Department after his US tour, given that his term will also end by June 30.