MANILA – Two senators believe Jose Calida can no longer serve as solicitor general for “conflict of interest” amid reports that his family’s security agency bagged millions of pesos in government contracts.
Risa Hontiveros went as far as challenging President Rodrigo Duterte to fire the government lawyer and file charges against him.
“If he (Duterte) can order the solicitor general to file a case against the Supreme Court chief justice, he can do the same to the former,” Hontiveros said.
Calida initiated the quo warranto petition that led to the ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice via a majority vote from Supreme Court justices favoring the plea.
Sereno suspected that the President had a hand in the moves to unseat her, including an impeachment complaint at the House of Representatives that comprised mostly Duterte allies.
Duterte denied involvement but has repeatedly criticized Sereno in public, particularly after she called on judiciary workers to resist warrantless invitations by the police in the early days of the widespread crackdown on illegal drug suspects.
If Duterte cannot fire Calida, the President’s “anti-corruption stance is pure hogwash,” said Hontiveros.
Francis Pangilinan, on the other hand, called on Calida to resign, citing a similar situation involving former Tourism secretary Wanda Teo.
The Tourism department and government television PTV-4 allegedly favored the TV production company of Teo’s brothers in granting P60 million worth of state-sponsored ads.
Calida “should resign as well for P150 million worth of government contracts” that the security agency “belonging to his wife and children” got from the Department of Justice, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., and National Economic and Development Authority, among others, Pangilinan wrote on Facebook.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is an attached agency of the Justice department.
Teo resigned as Tourism secretary on May 7 after her department awarded a P60-million media placement contract on Bitag Media Unlimited, Inc., a company owned by her brothers.
“Family TV production company. Family security agency. Same-same,” Pangilinan said. “Milyun-milyong kontrata sa gobyerno. Halos times three nga lang iyong halaga na nakuha ni Calida. Siguro three times more siya dapat mag-resign.”
Calida insisted there was no conflict of interest in the contracts between the family-owned Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency, Inc. (Vigilant) and the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC) for Rizal and Paco Parks.
“Calida complied with Section 9 of RA (Republic Act) 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) when he resigned as chairman and president of Vigilant before he assumed office as solicitor general,” his spokesman Atty. Hector Calilung said.
“His (Calida) interest in Vigilant was stated in his SALN (statement of assets, liabilities and net worth) when he assumed office,” the spokesman added.
The contracts, Calilung stressed, did not require Calida’s approval.
“The OSG does not regulate, supervise or license security agencies like Vigilant,” he added./PN
