Calida ready to take Ortega case to SC

Solicitor General Jose Calida. JOAN BONDOC/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Solicitor General Jose Calida on Tuesday said he was ready to take the case on the killing of broadcaster and environmentalist Dr. Gerry Ortega to the Supreme Court, saying the Court of Appeals (CA) ruling on the murder case “stinks.”

“The CA Decision stinks. As to where the stench came from, we will investigate it. As the People’s Tribune, I cannot sustain the Court of Appeals as they are clearly in the wrong,” Calida said.

“We are ready and raring to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court. There will be no miscarriage of justice under my watch,” he added.

The CA’s Former Eleventh Division issued a 24-page ruling that voided the arrest warrant issued against former Palawan Gov. Joel T. Reyes, saying there was no evidence presented to try him for Ortega’s killing.

“Our hands are tied by our bounded duty to administer justice and abide by the law. No evidence, no conviction. So be it,” the appellate court said in its ruling penned by Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro.

“Call it a second chance afforded him by God, or a lucky three-point play for him to use a common street lingo or a miracle in his favor, the petitioner (Reyes) must by all means be exonerated from the charge,” the CA said.

The Ortega family lamented that the CA decision came only a few weeks before the seventh year anniversary of the broadcaster’s murder, or as they called it, “seven years of fighting for justice and press freedom.” /je