(Eagle News)–Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Saturday, Sept. 7, defended his use of the Malacañang letterhead in referring the executive clemency bid of former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez to the Board of Pardons and Parole.
According to Panelo, while he “take(s) note” of the comments of Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, “we assume that the good Senator knows that official correspondence to a government office requires nothing less than an official response thereto and an official action thereon.”
Panelo said in the first place, his office’s correspondence to BPP Executive Director Reynaldo Bayang “clearly and uniformly states that we leave the evaluation of applications for executive clemency to his discretion.”
He said his office “has never encroached upon the prerogative of [Bayang] nor insinuated upon him what to do.”
“And third, Bayang knows that the President has banned the use of any sort of political influence or ascendancy in government transactions,” he said.
According to Panelo, Drilon appears to suggest that he refer the bid in his personal capacity.
“That would not only be different from our standard practice of officially referring citizens’ concerns to an appropriate instrumentality of the government but it would also imply that I may still be lawyering for Mr. Sanchez despite the known fact that I am already serving the Office of the President as the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Presidential Spokesperson,” Panelo said.
Earlier, Drilon said Panelo’s use of the Malacañang letterhead could have exerted some sort of pressure on the BPP, which may have seen Panelo as holding a position of power.
The BPP, however, denied Sanchez’s bid citing the gravity of crimes.
Sanchez was convicted of the killing and rape of Eileen Sarmenta and of the murder of her friend Allan Gomez.