SolGen: Ties with Marcoses won’t affect pursuit of ill-gotten wealth

Solicitor General Jose Calida. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Solicitor General Jose Calida assured that his previous stand in support of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will not affect his work as government counsel.

During the campaign for the May 2016 elections, Calida was one of the leaders of the “Alyansang Duterte-BongBong” that pushed for the tandem of President Rodrigo Duterte and Marcos.

As a Solicitor General, he also defended the government’s stand for the burial of former strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

Earlier, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez filed House Bill 5233 expanding the functions of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to include, among others, the recovery of the Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth.

READ: Speaker’s bill wants OSG to pursue ill-gotten wealth cases

“Well that is the prerogative of Congress, they enact the laws and we will implement that law if it is passed,” Calida told reporters.

“I am now a government official. The elections [last year] has no more bearing on my duty as a government official so it doesn’t matter to me,” Calida added.

READ: Hontiveros says putting PCGG under OSG ‘sick, cruel joke’

Aside from pursuing the Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth, Alvarez also wants the OSG to absorb the work of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel.

The proposed measure will place the currently Department of Justice-attached agency under the supervision of the Office of the President to ensure that it becomes a “truly independent and autonomous office.” IDL