Palace defends Calida in move to review Trillanes amnesty

Solicitor General Jose Calida and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. INQUIRER file photos

Malacañang on Thursday defended Solicitor General Jose Calida in his supposed role to review the amnesty given to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

This after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) claimed that an inquiry from Calida’s office prompted the review of Trillanes’ amnesty.

“He (Calida) inquired as part of his mandate and does not require any sanction from the Palace,” Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a message to Palace reporters.

Trillanes, on the other hand, implicated the government’s top lawyer in an alleged conflict of interest for his involvement in government contracts bagged by a security agency owned by the Calida family.

In a Senate hearing, Trillanes showed visual slides and other documents against Calida.

The solicitor general has sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to stop the Senate investigation.

President Rodrigo Duterte, in a proclamation, voided Trillanes’ amnesty on two grounds: that there is no document to prove he did apply for it, and that the former coup plotter did not acknowledge guilt for his participation in mutinies against the Arroyo administration. /jpv

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