MANILA -- Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Friday designated Senior Deputy State Prosecutor Richard Anthony Fadullon as Acting Prosecutor General.
In Department Order No. 384, the DOJ chief said Fadullon will replace Jorge Catalan Jr., who is concurrently Makati City Prosecutor, as head of the National Prosecution Service (NPS) after the latter asked to be relieved of his post.
Guevarra said that Fadullon’s appointment will assume the post until a new Prosecutor General is appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
In his letter to the DOJ chief Thursday, Catalan resigned as acting Prosecutor General saying that he cannot compromise and sacrifice performance and productivity by holding on to both offices.
“Concurrent with my capacity as City Prosecutor of the Office of the City Prosecutor of Makati, a year ago, I was similarly designated as acting Prosecutor General. Much as I would like to carry on with the parallel arrangement, I am committed to dedicate only the best of what I can offer. In the long run, I cannot compromise or sacrifice my performance and productivity by holding on to both offices,” Catalan said.
“The privilege was truly an honor and a challenge to be able to organize and manage both offices, despite the exigent demands of supervisory work it entailed,” he added.
Guevarra, meanwhile, clarified that Catalan wanted to focus on his responsibilities as Makati City Prosecutor.
Catalan was designated as Acting Prosecutor General pursuant to the Department Order No.394 dated June 9, 2017 and was signed by former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre.
For his part, Fadullon expressed gratitude to Justice Secretary Guevarra for the new post and he will focus onthe spate of killings which have targeted prosecutors.
“I thank the Secretary for the designation as Acting PG. I ask for your prayers as I begin to face the task at hand. Moving forward, there are a lot of concerns that we have to look into and address as far as the national prosecution service is concerned,” Fadullon said in a text message sent to Philippine News Agency.
“Among them are the spate of killings of prosecutors that have remained unresolved. In the meantime, we will focus all efforts towards professionalizing the NPS and increasing the efficiency of our prosecutors. Hopefully, this will renew the trust of the people in the NPS, the DOJ and the entire justice system,” he added.
Fadullon, 56, first worked as a clerk at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court before joining the DOJ which he has been serving for 25 years now.
He has headed various DOJ task forces, including those on anti-kidnapping and anti-terrorism and handled handled high-profile cases.
These include the plunder trial against former President Joseph Estrada before the Sandiganbayan, as deputized by the Office of the Ombudsman, the Oakwood mutiny case against Magdalo members and the Maguindanao massacre cases.
In 2013, he was named as head of the panel of prosecutors handling the cases against former Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari in connection with the Zamboanga siege. (PNA)
