Calida defends plan to make Napoles a state witness in pork scam

Solicitor General Jose Calida. RODRIGUEZ/Presidential Photos

Why are you sticking your nose into the judicial process?

Solicitor General Jose Calida took to social media to question why Sen. Francis Pangilinan was opposing a government plan to make businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles a state witness in the pork barrel scam.

On Saturday, Calida posted a series of tweets on his Twitter account, @SolGenCalida, in which he tagged Pangilinan using the handle @kikopangilinan.

“Are you afraid Napoles will unmask the supercilious hypocrisy of the unlamented ‘Daang Matuwid’ regime?” said the solicitor general in a tweet addressed to the senator.

This was followed by another tweet, “Why do you keep on sticking your nose in this judicial process?”

Calida pointed out that “the prosecutor and the court” are “involved in the process of making an accused a state witness.”

His tweets seem to be in reply to Pangilinan’s own posts on Twitter the day before, in which he challenged moves to make Napoles a state witness in the multibillion pork barrel scam.

Earlier, the businesswoman was acquitted by the Court of Appeals on the serious illegal detention charges filed by her former aide and cousin, Benhur Luy.

“How can it be that the one who got the most out of the pork barrel scam will be a state witness?” Pangilinan said on his Twitter account.

The senator also expressed hope that the court would not allow Napoles to qualify as a state witness in the pork barrel scam, which she was accused of masterminding.

It may be recalled that the government is planning a reinvestigation of the multibillion-peso pork barrel anomaly involving Napoles and members of Congress.

Calida’s tweets on Saturday were a continuation of his earlier criticism of Pangilinan and Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who expressed their objection to Napoles’ acquittal on serious illegal detention charges.

On Thursday, the solicitor general wondered why the two senators were agitated over the reversal of Napoles’ conviction by the appellate court.