Drilon: Panelo using Malacañang office letterhead would have ‘pressured’ BPP

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon. (File photo by EDWIN BACASMAS / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — The use of the Malacañang letterhead by Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo for the referral on Antonio Sanchez’s bid for executive clemency may have given the perception of power and would have put pressure on the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP), Senator Franklin Drilon said Friday. 

“The letter itself indeed, based on the wording, is only a referral letter. I agree with that,” Drilon said in an interview on ANC’s Headstart. 

“But two things: Number one, the letterhead used was Malacañang Office of the Presidential Legal Counsel. If you receive this letter, the perception of power would put pressure on you,” he added. 

During the Senate hearing on the controversy surrounding the early release of heinous crimes convicts, BPP Executive Director Reynaldo Bayang revealed that Panelo, on behalf of Sanchez’s family, was among those who wrote a letter to his office. 

READ: BPP: Panelo referred Sanchez’s bid for clemency

However, the BPP rejected the appeal for executive clemency a day after receiving the letter referred by Panelo. 

“Now, number two, Sal Panelo was the lawyer of Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez. Therefore, the peculiar circumstance of Sec. Panelo should have prevented him out of delicadeza from making the referral,” Drilon went on to say. 

Asked if he thinks that Bayang may have felt pressured due to Panelo’s use of the Malacañang letterhead, he answered: “Whether or not he was pressured is over the question. But the fact is, he immediately denied the application of Sanchez for executive clemency.” 

Should Panelo also attend the Senate hearing to explain himself? “He should come around and explain this, especially that there [were] media reports that he talked to the Sanchez family twice.” /je