Salvador Panelo referred Antonio Sanchez clemency bid to board

MANILA, Philippines — Chief presidential legal counsel and presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo made an official referral of the request of the family of rape-murder convict Antonio Sanchez for executive clemency, a move that senators warned could get him into trouble.

Panelo’s letter to Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) executive director Reynaldo Bayang, dated Feb. 26, 2019, surfaced yesterday at the inquiry of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee into the controversy over the implementation of Republic Act 10592 or the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the committee, was grilling members of Sanchez’s family as well as BPP officials on the practice of securing endorsements on such appeals for clemency or pardon.

It was learned that the convict’s family secured letters from Panelo, former Laguna governor ER Ejercito and then Ilocos Norte representative Imelda Marcos in 2017, to help push the BPP to recommend to President Duterte that Sanchez be granted clemency.

Members of Sanchez’s family also testified that they were able to get similar endorsements from local officials in the province, but they were not able to present copies of the same.

Panelo was Sanchez’s lawyer when the latter was being tried for the rape and killing of Eileen Sarmenta and the murder of her friend Allan Gomez in June 1993, both students of University of the Philippines-Los Baños. Sanchez and six of his cohorts were sentenced to seven life terms in March 1995.

Panelo referred to Bayang a letter from Sanchez’s daughter Marie Antonelvie regarding her father’s application for clemency.

“In line with the President’s commitment (to) good governance, transparency and immediate action on matters that affect the welfare of the people, we are referring this matter to your good office for your evaluation and whatever appropriate action you may want to undertake under the premises,” the Palace spokesman said in his letter.

In a letter dated March 19, the BPP told Panelo that Sanchez’s application was denied.

Gordon said Panelo apparently exercised “bad judgment” in writing Bayang, considering his history with Sanchez and his current post in Duterte’s Cabinet.

“I would not do it if I were Panelo. That’s inappropriate conduct. But please understand I am duty-bound when I ask for documents that I know. I hope Sal (Panelo) will understand that,” Gordon said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Panelo must explain himself, adding he simply should have begged off from referring Sanchez’s letter.

“Now, it’s up to him to convince the people, you, I and the public, if what he did was proper or appropriate,” Lacson said.

“It cannot be denied. You cannot dissociate his personal relationship with the Sanchezes and his being chief presidential legal counsel,” he added.

Lacson said the fact that the application was denied cannot be used as an argument, adding that “the mere act of intervening” is the main issue.

The inquiry also tried to determine if there was any other reason behind Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) chief Nicanor Faeldon’s Aug. 20 order to release Sanchez, which was later stopped.

Faeldon repeatedly told the inquiry that while he was personally against freeing Sanchez, BuCor lawyers strongly warned him that not doing so would be violating the GCTA law and expose him and the agency to lawsuits.

Senators, however, were strongly skeptical of the BuCor chief’s claims, suspecting that money may have changed hands in connection with the order to free Sanchez.

Apart from Panelo, Sanchez’s family had also tried to ask recommendations from President Duterte in yet another attempt to ask executive clemency on behalf of the former Calauan mayor.

The family also sought the assistance of former special assistant to the President and incumbent Sen. Christopher Go to get recommendations for the pardon of Sanchez.

The details of the Sanchez family’s request were in the letter of the former mayor’s daughter, which was emailed to Panelo on Feb. 8.

“I am respectfully requesting the assistance of your good office by providing us, if possible, recommendations from you, former special aide to the President, Christopher Lawrence ‘Bong’ T. Go, and our good President, His Excellency, the Hon. Rodrigo Roa Duterte, for the grant of pardon unto my father,” the younger Sanchez said.

“Any help that you could possibly extend to us shall be highly appreciated and rest assured that it shall be treated with utmost confidentiality,” she added in her letter, which had 18 attachments.

Meeting at Malacañang

At a press briefing yesterday at Malacañang, Panelo admitted meeting members of the Sanchez family early this year but he denied having intervened on behalf of the former mayor.

“Basta, what is important is I told them exactly (that) the Bureau of Corrections will be the one to determine whether or not your application will be approved or not, we can’t do anything. We always follow the law,” Panelo said when pressed about what he discussed with the Sanchez family.

Elvira, the wife of Sanchez, visited Panelo twice in February while the family was seeking to overturn a decision by the BPP.

Records from the security logbook at the Presidential Communications Operations Office at Malacañang showed that Elvira logged her visit on Feb. 7, a day before her daughter formally wrote Panelo an email asking for help for her father’s case.

On Feb. 26, Elvira and daughter also paid Panelo a visit in his office, apparently to follow up on their request.

Incidentally, it was also on the same day that Panelo wrote a letter to the younger Sanchez, informing her that the Feb. 7 letter was being forwarded to the BPP for its action.

Panelo refused give his opinion anew when asked if he still thinks that Sanchez is innocent, adding that the court had issued a judgment and that he respects the decision.

Regarding the letter, Panelo said he merely referred the letter to Bayang.

Panelo spoke about his communications with Sanchez’s family, while he admitted that he met with the latter right in his office at Malacañang at around that time the letter was sent to his official email address as chief presidential legal counsel.

Panelo confirmed the statement of Bayang during yesterday’s Senate inquiry that the former was among those who had written his office on the call for executive clemency for Sanchez.

“On the contrary, this representation left it to the discretion of the (BPP) to evaluate the case of Mr. Sanchez,” he said.

The presidential spokesman was also quick to douse reports that he intervened in the matter, adding that the issue is different from the controversy on the supposed grant of good conduct time allowance on Sanchez and thousands of other convicts by the BuCor.

Panelo explained that it has been the standard operating procedure of the Office of the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel to respond to “all letters” received by the office and refer them to the appropriate department or agency.

“So, the referral letter of Mrs. Marie Antonelvie J. Sanchez, who happened to be the daughter of former mayor Sanchez, to the Board of Pardons and Parole is just one of the thousands of referrals this office has made to various government instrumentalities,” he said.

 “In line with the President’s commitment for good governance, transparency and immediate action on matters that affect the welfare of the people, we are referring this matter to your good office for your evaluation and whatever appropriate action you may want to undertake under the premises,” Panelo’s letter to Bayang read.

Panelo also asked the BPP to “update us for record purposes and for whatever action this office may want to undertake consistent with law and the policy of the President for good government.”

His letter bore the words “Office of the President of the Philippines, Malacañang,” indicating in the letterhead the “Office of the Chief Presidential Legal Adviser.”

The letters also showed that the younger Sanchez received copies of Panelo’s letter to Bayang on the same date it was referred. Panelo also wrote the younger Sanchez about the update on the referral.

Panelo pointed out later on that the BPP had denied the family’s request for executive clemency, which was also relayed by the BPP officials to him on March 19.

“In this connection, please be informed that in its meeting on 27 February 2019, the Board resolved to DENY the ‘Motion for Reconsideration’ filed by (Person Deprived of liberaty) Sanchez….,” Bayang said in his letter to Panelo.

Bayang also pointed out that the BPP had denied Sanchez’s request for executive clemency last Dec. 10, “citing the gravity of the offenses he has committed as the reason thereof.”?Panelo mulls libel.

Meanwhile, Panelo said he would file libel charges against online media sites Rappler and Inquirer.net for making it appear that he endorsed the clemency of the former local mayor.

“Those articles are reeking… not only with irresponsibility, but with malice, and it is libelous in nature because it imputes an act to discredit me in public and tarnish my (reputation),” he said.

“In view of this, I am filing a libel case against Inquirer.net and Rappler for publishing these malicious articles,” he added.

In a statement, Inquirer.net said it respects “Secretary Panelo’s right to sue for libel if he feels aggrieved by the report. We shall refer the matter to our lawyers when he files the suit.”

“The libel threat is a pure diversionary tactic on the part of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Spokesperson Salvador Panelo,” Rappler said.

“Using the power of the Office of the President, Panelo endorsed to the Bureau of Pardons and Parole a letter from the Sanchez family requesting for executive clemency,” it added.

Apart from being part of Sanchez’s legal team, Panelo was also criticized by Rappler for using government resources, having met with Sanchez’s family at Malacañang in February.

“If not for the public outcry, Sanchez would have been released last week,” Rappler said. “Instead of shooting the messenger, Panelo should instead answer questions about his possible conflicts of interest.”