John Castriciones

John Rualo Castriciones (born January 8, 1962) is a Filipino lawyer, public servant and writer who serves as the Secretary of Agrarian Reform of the Philippines since his appointment by President Rodrigo Duterte on December 1, 2017. He was formerly Undersecretary for Operations of the Department of the Interior and Local Government under the same administration. A member of the Philippine Military Academy class of 1994, Castriciones also served in various capacities under two previous administrations and as a law school professor at his alma mater Arellano University. His appointment to the Agrarian Reform portfolio was approved by the Commission on Appointments on May 29, 2018, after being bypassed earlier by the commission on March 14, 2018 and reappointed by Duterte on March 22, 2018.

Early life and education
Castriciones is a native of the province of Nueva Vizcaya. He was born on January 8, 1962 to a family of farmers in the municipality of Bayombong. As a young cadet-student at the Philippine Military Academy during Martial law under Ferdinand Marcos, Castriciones was accused in the 1981 hazing death of fellow cadet Andres Ramos and was sentenced to five years of hard labor by a seven-man military court in July 1982. He was pardoned four year laters by the then newly-installed President Corazon Aquino.

Castriciones then enrolled at the Trinity University of Asia in Quezon City, formerly Trinity College, and graduated magna cum laude with a Political Science degree. He went on to attend San Beda University, former San Beda College, and Arellano University to pursue legal studies where he was consistenly in the Dean's List. Castriciones passed the Philippine Bar Examination in 1990. He later earned an LL.M. master's degree in Comparative Government and International Law from Notre Dame Law School in London, U.K. in 1998.

Castriciones finally completed his military training at the Philippine Military Academy in 1994 as part of the Maharlika Class.

Career
Castriciones started practicing law in 1993 and has since litigated in both Inferior and Superior Courts, Administrative Bodies, Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan. He served as legal counsel for several corporations and government officials in his more than 20 years of private law practice. Castriciones eventually founded his own law firm, the Castriciones Legal Consultancy, where his lawyer children also practice.

While a private lawyer, Castriciones also taught at Arellano University School of Law where he specialized in Corporation Law, Obligations and Contracts, Sales Investment Law, Public and Private International Law and Civil Procedure. He is also a former lecturer in the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) program of the Supreme Court of the Philippines for three years. Castriciones has also authored several books throughout his career, including Internal Revolution: Political Vengeance and Societal Perdition (2011); A Risen Catholic Christian Soldier (1998); Philippine Military Academy Hazing Case: A General’s Son Dies (1990); and Sagutin Natin (1984).

Castriciones entered the government sector in 2009 as Director of the Department of Transportation's Investigation, Security and Law Enforcement Service (ISLES) under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He also served as Legal Consultant of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and as assistant spokesman and deputy chairman of Task Force Gabay at Tagapagligtas sa Karagatan of the Transportation department. He was reappointed to the same post in the Transportation department under President Benigno Aquino III.

During the 2016 Philippine presidential election, Castriciones served as PDP-Laban's vice-president for Luzon who also supported the candidacy of then-mayor of Davao City, Rodrigo Duterte, as president of the Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte for President Movement (MRRDPM). He was eventually appointed by Duterte as Undersecretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government upon his assumption to office.

In February 2018, Castriciones helped form the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas where he currently serves as the party's president. The political party supports the Duterte administration's campaign for a shift to federalism. Castriciones, who earlier expressed interest in running for a senatorial post in the 2019 Philippine Senate election, announced in October 2018 that he was dropping out of the senatorial race and will be keeping his post as Agrarian Reform secretary.