MANILA, Philippines - Malacanang will not be pressured into granting convicted child rapist Romeo Jalosjos absolute pardon just because he is planning to run for his old post as representative of a district in Zamboanga del Norte.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said Friday that the Office of the President would treat the former lawmaker’s application for absolute pardon like “any other application.”

“We will not be pressured by the desire of a candidate. It will have to go through a process,” Remonde told the Inquirer.

Earlier at a briefing, Remonde said that as far as he knew, the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) had made no recommendation on Jalosjos’ application to the Office of the President.

“We vehemently deny that we are endorsing such an application. We are treating the application of Mr. Jalosjos like any other application, and we are still waiting for it,” he said.

An official of the BPP had earlier said that Jalosjos applied for absolute pardon on Sept. 30, or two months before the Dec. 1 deadline for the filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 2010 elections.

The application was purportedly transmitted by the Office of the President to the BPP on Oct. 22, for evaluation and recommendation as to his eligibility for pardon.

An absolute pardon would restore Jalosjos’ right of suffrage (the right to vote and be voted upon), and allow him to pursue his plan to seek his old seat in Congress.

He had indicated that he might run again if pardoned, and had said he was sure to win.

Final say from DOJ

Acting Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera told reporters that the Department of Justice had the final say on whether to recommend to Malacañang the grant of absolute pardon to convicts like Jalosjos.

Devanadera said her office had yet to receive any application, or a referral of an application to grant Jalosjos absolute pardon.
“It can be initiated [or] filed anywhere but the final recommendation would be from the Office of the [Justice] Secretary,” she said, adding that the matter would then be subjected to the review and assessment of the Office of the President.

Only the President has the authority to grant convicts absolute pardon, and Devanadera refused to say whether Jalosjos was qualified for it.
“I have not received any application. They have not forwarded any recommendation,” she said, adding:

“Actually, I’m surprised.”

A woman first

Remonde said it was too early to say whether Jalosjos’ application for pardon would be granted.
“The case will solely be based on the merits, and any discussion on that right now will be speculative because it has not reached the Office of the President. We will cross the bridge when we get there,” he said.

Asked if Ms Arroyo’s being a woman would be a factor in the evaluation of the case, Remonde said: “The President is always first a woman, and second a President. And therefore, you can’t take this away when the time comes for her to decide.”

The Makati Regional Trial Court convicted Jalosjos in December 1997 of raping an 11-year-old girl, and sentenced him to two life terms.

While behind bars, he won reelection in 1998 and 2001. He was dropped from the rolls of the House of Representatives in 2002, when the Supreme Court affirmed his guilt.

Five years later, Ms Arroyo commuted Jalosjos’ sentence to 16 years, three months and three days.
The commutation, along with good conduct time allowance, allowed him to walk free for good, despite having served only 12 years.