Palace Spokesman Harry Roque on Friday said he remains unfazed despite the indirect contempt charges filed against him by former Palawan governor Joel Reyes—saying that between the two of them, the former governor remains to be a criminal.
“I welcome that. I will meet him in any forum. And I will tell the world he is the convicted felon, convicted felon, convicted felon,” Roque said in a news briefing in Valencia City.
Roque added that he made the statement because it was the duty and obligation of the state to accord its citizens justice.
“I spoke in that capacity. I have no regrets, and even the President approved of my statements,” Roque said.
Solicitor General Jose Calida has already bared plans of asking the Supreme Court to reverse the decision, vowing there will be no “miscarriage of justice” under his watch.
Amid rumors linking Court of Appeals Justice Normandie Pizarro to the “miracle” on Reyes’ acquittal—Roque said that he simply encourages the family “to file administrative charges.”
Roque made the statement after Reyes asked the Palace spokesman in contempt.
Reyes said Roque should be penalized for attacking the Court of Appeals decision that freed him from detention in connection with the case involving the killing of radio commentator and environmentalist Gerry Ortega in 2011.
Ortega was allegedly killed for his radio commentaries about the Reyes’ supposed misuse of the share of the provincial government in the proceeds from the operation of the Malampaya natural gas plant off Palawan.
But the CA Former Eleventh on Jan. 4 voted 3 to 2, in voiding the warrant of arrest issued by the Puerto Princesa City Regional Trial Court Branch 52 against Reyes, citing lack of sufficient evidence for a finding of probable cause for the former governor’s indictment.
The CA also ordered the local court to discontinue the trial against the former governor.
If the CA agrees with the former Palawan governor and cite Roque for contempt, the Palace spokesman would be either fined or imprisoned.
Roque earlier branded the CA ruling as a “travesty of justice” and “alarming” in his statements to the press early this week.
Reyes said Roque’s comments against the CA justices “were unwarranted and tended to impair the Honorable Court’s independence and efficiency, as well as the public’s confidence in the Honorable Court’s honesty and integrity.”
“In his public statements, he called the Honorable Court’s decision as a ‘travesty of justice,’ insinuating that the Honorable Court decided the case for considerations other than the ends of justice. He also accused the Honorable Court of arrogance for allegedly overruling a previous decision of the Supreme Court… which is even misleading because the matter decided, in that case, had nothing to do with the jurisdiction and validity of its exercise by the trial court, which was the matters at issue in [the CA decision],” according to Reyes petition filed last Wednesday.
Reyes said Roque may claim to have issued the statements in his personal capacity, but the Palace spokesman’s statement, according to Reyes, may have a “possible influence on the public and even the courts,” according to Reyes.
“If it were true that respondent [Reyes] was speaking in his personal capacity, there was no reason for him to have announced that the reversal of the Honorable Court’s ruling is ‘the official position of the Duterte government,’” the petition stated. With PNA
“Instead, his declaration was clearly a veiled threat for the Honorable Court to decide the motion for reconsideration or whatever remedy the government would take, in its favor, otherwise the Honorable Court would be going against ‘the official position of the Duterte government,” it added.
Meanwhile, Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) head Joel Sy Egco defended Roque over his statements assailing the CA ruling that freed former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes from detention.
In a Palace briefing, Egco pointed out that Roque is now “the Spokesperson of Rodrigo Roa Duterte who issued Administrative Order (AO) No. 1 on October 11, 2016 for the purpose of protecting the life, liberty and security of media workers.”
“When Secretary Roque commented on the CA ruling on the murder case against Reyes, he did so within the purview of AO1 as the alter-ego of the President of the Philippines who has vowed in his first SONA that, and I quote, ‘This government does not condone violence and repression of media workers,” Egco said.
He added that AO No. 1 expressly provides that “unsolved cases of grave violation of the right to life, liberty and security of a person, are revisited, investigated and prosecuted until final determination and penal conclusion.”
Further, this mandates the creation of the PTFoMS for the purpose of “monitoring all cases of media killings and mobilizing all member agencies in order to attain justice for the family of slain journalists and media workers.”
Egco said as explicitly cited in the provisions of AO No. 1, every assistance should be provided to the families of slain journalists until its penal conclusion.
“So that’s why I’m going to reiterate that they were wrong in claiming that Secretary Roque had conflict of interest,” he said.
Egco, who was a former director and former president of the National Press Club (NPC), said Roque’s predicament is the same as his and, as such, could not also be accused of “conflict of interest.”
The head of the task force on media security on Thursday issued a statement criticizing the CA ruling as an “unwelcome development” and a “nightmare from where we all should wake up.”
He also supported Calida in his bid to initiate an investigation to find the “stench” with regard to the CA ruling on Reyes and likewise called for the reversal of the decision.
“Mula noong namatay si Doc Gerry 2011, I was director of the NPC, and we’ve been also calling for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the suspects in this case. And when I was president of the NPC, naaresto siya (Reyes). And we even issued a very strong statement welcoming the arrest. So nasaan ang conflict of interest doon now that I’m part of government and I’m in charge of going after them?” the PTFoMS head said.
“Everything that Secretary Roque said and everything that I’m saying now all fall within the purview of AO 1. Trabaho lang naman natin ito eh. And very explicit iyong sinasabi (AO 1). We ran after them (suspects). So we provide legal assistance, we provide any assistance that we can provide to the family,” Egco said.
With PNA