ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro during the weekly press briefing at the House of Representatives on Thursday, Nov 21, 2019. INQUIRER.net file photo / Noy Morcoso
MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is helping out the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) “as far as the legal cooperation cluster is concerned” and also assisted National Security Adviser (NSA) General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. in a perjury case he filed against some activists, according to an official of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
During the House committee on appropriation’s hearing on Friday on the proposed budget of DOJ for 2021, ACT-Teachers Rep. France Castro asked Solicitor General Jose Calida on the role of the OSG in the perjury cases earlier filed by Esperon against some activists.
Castro noted that the OSG seemed to be lawyering for Esperon in the filing of those cases.
“Ito po ba ay isang papel din ng OSG, sa isang private na case ay naglo-lawyer ang OSG (Is it among the roles of the OSG to stand as lawyer for a private case)?” Castro asked Calida.
In response, Calida said: “Our mandate is to defend the government, the Republic, so this is our job.”
But saying she is not satisfied with the answer of the Solicitor General, Castro then sought the opinion of Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra.
Guevarra replied by saying: “My understanding is that the mandate of the OSG is primarily to represent the Republic, the government or any of its government officials in cases that may be filed in our courts.”
“Now if the SolGen is listening, I think the issue pertaining to your question is whether even in personal cases the OSG may also represent government officials. Frankly, without the benefit of a study— because right now I am being asked the question—my understanding is that government officials may be represented by the OSG in connection with official duties that they perform as government officials,” the DOJ secretary said.
But if the case is a private matter, Guevarra added the OSG will not have a proper role in the complaint even if it concerns a government official.
Castro then went on asking about the role of the OSG for the NTF-ELCAC, saying that the task force has also been involved in red-tagging the Makabayan bloc and progressive groups.
According to Justice Undersecretary Adrian Sugay, the OSG “has been helping out the NTF-ELCAC as far as the legal cooperation cluster is concerned.”
“As a general rule, that would have been the role of the DOJ but considering that many complaints in connection with the task force find their way with the DOJ and with our prosecution service, we had an agreement with the NTF-ELCAC that the matter of yung legal cooperation cluster po should be handled by the OSG,” Sugay said.
“I understand also that it is in this capacity that they assisted the NSA with regards to the filing of these cases, ‘yung perjury, which was resolved by our city prosecutor po sa Quezon City. It is in connection with the work of the NTF-ELCAC,” he added.
Castro asked if this means then that the OSG is in charge of filing what she called trumped-up charges against members of progressive groups.
“Ang pagkakaalam ko naman po (as far as I know), the work of the OSG sa NTF-ELCAC, this is based on ‘yung kung ano ang napag-usapan sa NTF-ELCAC, which the task force deems should be filed or cases that should be pursued,” answered Sugay.
“At the end of the day naman (after all), these are all based on evidence. Pagdating po sa amin, if it’s sa DOJ, kung wala naman pong ebidensya hindi naman po tumutuloy (When it comes to us and there is no evidence, the case does not prosper),” he said.