PUBLIC Attorney’s Office Chief Persida Rueda-Acosta was determined to maximize her term of office until she retires at 70 as mandated by law.
Atty. Rueda-Acosta told Good Riddance that she understood if there are some individuals who are floating names for her supposed replacement as chief public attorney.
“I could quickly comprehend their views because they thought all the while that the tenure of office of the PAO chief would end when he/she reaches the age of 65.”
The longest-serving PAO chief after her appointment by then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in February 2021, Rueda-Acosta, now 65, confirmed that she’d leave the agency’s highest post when she reaches the age of 70.
The issue on the fixed term of office of PAO’s top post was highlighted by Quezon City Trial Court Branch 230 Judge Maria Gilda Loja-Pangilinan when she spoke before some 3, 000 public attorneys during PAO’s 9th Mandatory Continuing Legal Education grand convention held late April where she underscored the parity of benefits among state prosecutors and public attorneys.
Hailed over her 2017 decision which favored the retirement benefits for PAO retirees at par with those at the National Prosecutorial Service and which was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, the judge cited Republic Act 9946 which governs the retirement benefits of the members of the judiciary.
It’s quite evident: the Chief Public Attorney shall have the same qualifications and retirement benefits as his or her counterpart in NAPROS, she said.
The QC judge stressed that the legislative intent was to truly give the PAO personnel the same rank, salary, and benefits as their counterpart in NAPROS, “extending to qualifications and retirement of the Chief Public Attorney, deputies, and all other senior PAO officers down the line.”
The judge reiterated that under RA 9946 the compulsory retirement age for the Chief Public Attorney and public attorneys in general is 70 years old, plus 15 years of judicial or government service.
She clarified, however, that there was still an option – to retire at 60 but one must have first obtained 15 years of government service.
