President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday came to the defense of Solicitor General Jose Calida who is being criticized for cornering several government contracts owned by his family’s security agency.
In his speech during the destruction of smuggled motorcycles at the Bureau of Customs, Duterte said Calida’s family had owned a security agency long before he was named Solicitor General.
“Why should I fire him? He is good, he is also from Davao but Ilocano,” Duterte said.
“Don’t we have the right to put up our [own] business?”
But opposition lawmakers on Wednesday called on Calida to resign or for Duterte to remove the government’s top lawyer amid allegations of conflict of interest
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Wednesday said he will review the Justice department ’s contracts that were awarded in 2017 to the family-owned security firm of Solicitor General Jose Calida.
He said he will find out if all the proper procedures were observed, and that he will call the Bids and Awards committee to confirm.
“To satisfy everyone, we’ll take a look,” Guevarra said.
Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros said Wednesday Calida’s admission already pointed to his guilt after admitting he had yet to divest his business interest in his family’s private security company that had bagged more than P150 million in contracts from various government agencies since 2016.
“Mr. Calida has virtually admitted to allegations of corrupt practices and conflict of interest. Case closed. Game over,” Hontiveros said.
Senator Leila de Lima criticized Calida for his alleged hypocrisy after he denied any conflict of interest over the P150 million worth of government contracts bagged by his family-owned security agency since he assumed office in 2016.
“It disturbs me that Calida has no qualms to give undue advantage to his family’s security business, thereby profiting from the people’s money,” De Lima said.
Calida’s family owns the Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc. that secured contracts worth over P150 million with the National Parks Development Committee, the National Anti-Poverty Commission, the Department of Justice, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and the National Economic and Development Authority from 2015 to 2018.
But Duterte defended Calida.
“The fact that you have divested in the sense that you have retired, don’t do it just because he is retired. So why do you have to impute or attribute malice there?” Duterte said.
Malacañang had said it was not illegal for Calida to own shares of VISAI.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque had earlier said it was not illegal for Calida to own shares of VISAI that had bagged government contracts.
“He resigned all his corporate posts before he became SolGen, and I don’t think mere ownership of stock certificates is prohibited by the Constitution,” Roque said.