Manila: The Solicitor General of President Benigno Aquino resigned Monday, saying he wanted to return to a private law practice, after he tendered a letter of resignation last Friday.
Confirmation came from President Aquino who issued a statement that Solicitor General Anselmo Cadiz "fought the good fight and earned a deserving rest to enable him to spend more time with his family".
When he joined the government's legal team, there was an understanding that Cadiz "would help put in place much-needed reforms (in the judiciary) after which he would return to private life," explained Aquino, adding that Cadiz's other role was "to argue the government's cases with vigour (and) to approach each case with integrity".
Cadiz's letter of resignation was not released.
The Philippine Star said that Cadiz resigned after he defended the Supreme Court's unanimous decision last November, that owners of the 4,000 hectare Hacienda Luisita, a sugar plantation owned by the mother-side of Aquino's family, should distribute land to some 6,000 farm workers that won their case at the agrarian reform court in 2005.
As a solicitor general Cadiz should uphold the Supreme Court's ruling, but the complainants who filed a motion for reconsideration belonged to Aquino's family.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona was impeached by allies of Aquino at the House of Representatives, and he is not facing an impeachment trial at the Senate.
Critics claimed that Corona's impeachment was an alleged retaliation of the administration, but the palace said this was not true.
