Calida asks SC to hold executive session on ‘top secret’ AFP ops in Mindanao

Solicitor General Jose Calida (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Lead government counsel Solicitor General Jose Calida asked the Supreme Court to hold an executive session after he was ordered to submit operational directive of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Chief of Staff to the area command in Mindanao.

Calida cited confidentiality as the document might contain matters of national security.

But Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, as well as Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, noted that during last year’s oral argument, an executive session was conducted but it turned out that the information from the Defense Department was not actually confidential.

In fact, Leonen noted that the operational directive was annexed to the Solicitor General’s memoranda.

One of the petitioners, former Constitutional Commission delegate Christian Monsod, said a secret can be easily manipulated.

“Who determines  what is secret? It was the military who determines what is secret or what is not. It can be easily manipulated,” he said.

Another petitioner, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman agreed with Monsod.

He added that “any additional information in executive session may augment or embellish what the President said.”

The oral argument will continue Wednesday.