CHIEF Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Wednesday that he supports the decision of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to ask for the acquittal of Janet Napoles over her illegal detention case.
In a phone-patch interview, Panelo said Solicitor General Jose Calida is "competent" to weigh in the case filed against Napoles, the alleged architect of the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.
"The position of the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel will coincide with what the OSG has stated because they are the agency that looked over the records of the case," Panelo said.
"Since the OSG is the office that studied the case and it is the office that recommended the acquittal of the accused, we have to abide by its position, unless independent entities can show us that the decision is contrary to the evidence and the records of the case," he added.
In a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), the OSG allegedly filed a “manifestation in lieu of rejoinder” at the Court of Appeals (CA) on January 11, recommending the acquittal of Napoles for the crime of serious illegal detention of Benhur Luy, her second cousin.
Luy, a state witness in the plunder cases against Napoles, was reportedly detained in a retreat house and then in her own home from December 2012 to March 2013.
A Makati court ruled on April 14, 2015 to convict Napoles and sentenced her to up to 40 years in jail for illegally detaining Luy.
Napoles is now detained at the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City.
The PCIJ said Calida, Assistant Solicitor General Henry Angeles and Associate Solicitor Armand Morales submitted the manifestation to the CA. It said the document does not bear Calida’s signature but stressed that it is impossible for him not to know about the manifestation.
“After examining anew the evidence presented by both the prosecution and defense, the OSG finds that the evidence presented does not support beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant committed the crime of serious illegal detention,” the manifestation read.
“The conduct and behavior of Benhur Luy during the period of his alleged detention belie the fact that he was detained or deprived of his liberty, contrary to the findings of the trial court in its April 14,2015 decision,” it added.
Panelo is confident that the OSG thoroughly looked into the case of Napoles.
“He (Calida) has competence to go over the case… I’m sure the OSG studied the case very well,” he said.
Asked then if the Duterte administration is being “soft” on Napoles, Panelo said, “The administration of Duterte will always follow what the rules, the laws, and the Constitution say regardless of who are the persons involved whether that person is a controversial figure or that person is a non-controversial figure.” (VoxPop Philippines)
