(Eagle News)–Gary Alejano has asked a Department of Justice panel to stop the Office of the Solicitor General from representing the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, the acting complainant, in the preliminary probe of the sedition charges filed against him and several others.
In seeking for the OSG’s disqualification, Alejano said the office was only authorized to represent the government in criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, based on the Administrative Code of 1987.
According to Alejano, Presidential Decree 478, which created the OSG, also “distinguished between the authority of the office to represent the government in criminal proceeding from its authority to represent the government in any other proceeding.”
“Without doubt, in criminal proceedings, the OSG may represent the government, its agencies and instrumentalities only in the Supreme Court and in the Court of Appeals,” he said.
According to Alejano, the participation of the OSG also “runs to a very possible conflict of interest once the case is elevated to the Court of Appeals.”
He said this takes place when the OSG, as counsel for the public official in the preliminary investigation stage, and prosecutes when the case is brought on appeal.
“The situation would simply be scandalous, to say the least,” he said.
“In light of the foregoing conditions, respondent humbly prays that the honorable panel disqualify the (OSG) from appearing as counsel for herein complainant in the preliminary investigation of this case,” he added.
The sedition charges filed against Alejano, Vice President Leni Robredo, several priests, among others, stem from the Ang Totoong Narco-list videos that accused President Rodrigo Duterte’s family of being engaged in the illegal drug trade.
The charges were based on the affidavit of Peter Joemel Advincula, who claimed to be the yellow-hooded character “Bikoy” in the videos.
Advincula, who was also included in the charge sheet, had said Robredo and the others had forced him to peddle lies against Duterte’s family under Project Sodoma.
Earlier, Advincula stood by the drug allegations against Duterte’s kin in the videos.
