that backed ousted President Joseph Estrada. De Castro's three-year stint in the Senate saw him author 252 bills and resolutions, including the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2002, Balikbayan Law of 2002, Quarantine Act and Newborn Screening Test Act of 2001. De Castro did not finish his term, choosing instead to run for the vice presidency in the 2004 Philippine presidential election. Vice presidency (2004–2010) In the 2004 Philippine election, de Castro ran for vice president. He won by a narrow margin over Senator Loren Legarda, but an electoral protest was filed by the latter. The Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), dismissed the protest. He was appointed by President Arroyo as chairman for housing and urban development (HUDCC). As HUDCC Chair, Vice President de Castro also serves as ex official chairman of the Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF or Pag-IBIG Fund), the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), the National Housing Authority (Philippines) (NHA), the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC) and the Social Housing Finance Corporation (SHFC) as well as ex officio vice chairman of the Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC). He has also been designated as concurrent presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers, as alternate chairman of the National Anti-Poverty Commission, head of the Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment, price monitoring czar and cabinet officer for Regional Development Palawan. De Castro was chairman of the Pag-IBIG Fund when the housing scam involving Globe Asiatique (GA) scam took place. Throughout his vice presidency, de Castro had minimal limelight and was regarded only as "backup" for the then incumbent party coalition if ever President Arroyo was ousted. 2010 presidential election De Castro was initially a front runner in the 2010 presidential election. Being the vice president, he was a popular choice among older voters to replace outgoing president Arroyo. However, his lead was taken by Benigno Aquino III (who later won) after Aquino declared his intent to run for president. In December 2009, he did not file to be included on the ballot. In an interview conducted by Karen Davila, he announced that he would retire from politics at the end of his vice presidential term and intended to commit himself full time to broadcast journalism. 2022 Senate election bid and subsequent withdrawal De Castro initially announced his intention to run as senator for the 2022 Senate election. On October 7, 2021, he took oath as