(Eagle News)–The Palace on Sunday, Sept. 8, said there was “no provocation” when President Rodrigo Duterte said no one should question his authority to pardon criminals.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Duterte was merely “educating the public of the nature of the power of pardon.”
“The framers of the Constitution gave the pardoning power to the President as a discretionary and absolute power. Nobody can –and should –question that power,” Panelo said.
He said the presidential power to pardon was given for “humanitarian consideration or to correct an injustice.”
“That’s part of the checks and balances conceived by the constitutional framers to avoid –as well as correct –an abuse by any of the branches of government. It is a wise grant of power,” he said.
Earlier, in a speech in Naga, Cebu, the President said the “power to commute and to pardon is absolute.”
“My discretion lang. Bakit may mga taong pinalaya, binigyan ng pardon? Akin na yan. You do not question because the Constitution says it is an absolute power,” Duterte said.
He was referring to Article VII, Section 19 of the 1987 Constitution that allows the President to, apart from granting reprieves, commutations, and pardons, remit fines and forfeitures, after conviction by final judgment, except in cases of impeachment or as otherwise provided.
Duterte made the remark following the release of convicts of heinous crimes under the Good Conduct Time Allowance law, a development the President decried.
Duterte fired Bureau of Corrections Director-General Nicanor Faeldon over the GCTA mess.
