SOLICITOR General Jose Anselmo Cadiz was “forced” to resign after he reportedly pushed for the land distribution scheme in Hacienda Luisita, a source revealed yesterday morning on condition of anonymity.

Cadiz earlier tendered his resignation to President Benigno Aquino III

Hacienda Luisita, owned by the Cojuangco family (Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon C. Aquino, is a Cojuangco), has been embroiled in a land reform dispute with tenant farmers for two decades.

According to Aquino’s critics, the SC’s decision on the Hacienda Luisita distribution led to the administration's moves to oust Chief Justice Renato Corona from office.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed late Sunday night that Cadiz indeed resigned.                                                                                       

Cadiz's  replacement

Reports said he would be replaced by Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Francis Jardeleza.

De Lima bared Cadiz "personally tendered his letter of resignation" to President Aquino last Friday in Malacañang.

"What I know is that he wants to go back to private practice," De Lima said in a text message.

Jardeleza, a native of Jaro, Iloilo City, was a former lawyer of San Miguel Corp.  He graduated cum laude at the University of the Philippines College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City in 1974.

He placed third in the 1974 Bar exams, garnering a general average of 88.35%. He secured his Master of Laws at Harvard Law School in Massachusetts, USA in 1977.

Meanwhile, Cadiz in a text message confirmed that he had resigned because he wanted to go back to the practice of law.

“From the start, I determined that I would be in government for a limited period only. Now is the time to go back to private practice,” Cadiz said.