De Lima slams Calida for dodging probe on kin’s alleged gov’t contracts

Sen. Leila De Lima on Thursday slammed Solicitor General Jose Calida for refusing to attend Senate hearings into the reported multi-million contracts a security firm owned by his family had allegedly entered with the government.

“Refusing to attend the Senate hearings about his family’s security firm is showing an outright disrespect of the Senate and its rules. Just because he is a Solicitor General doesn’t exempt him from public scrutiny,” De Lima said in a statement.

The detained senator said that if Calida is not guilty of violating the Constitution to fulfill his personal agenda, he should not be afraid to appear in the Senate hearings.

“If Calida has nothing to hide, he should not be afraid to attend the hearings and answer questions from the good chair,” she said.

Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc., the security firm owned by Calida’s family, reportedly bagged at least 10 government contracts between August 2016 and January 2018.

Minority senators have already filed a resolution, urging the Senate to look into Calida’s alleged conflict of interest in relation to the alleged government contracts.  /muf