Lawyers of respondents on Friday assailed the decision of the Office Solicitor General to represent the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in the sedition complaint filed against Vice President Leni Robredo and 35 others over their alleged involvement in a plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte.
During the start of preliminary investigation of the complaint at the Department of Justice, Assistant Solicitor General Angelita Miranda manifested her appearance as lead counsel for the complainant, PNP-CIDG.
But lawyers of the respondents, particularly former Senator Rene Saguisag, legal counsel of Senator Risa Hontiveros, objected to it.
“It [OSG] should not be the tuta [lapdog] of the administration,” Saguisag told the panel of prosecutors conducting the preliminary investigation.
This prompted Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas, who chairs the panel, to give the lawyers of respondents until Aug. 16 to file motions questioning the authority of the OSG to represent the PNP-CIDG.
The OSG, on the other hand, was given until Aug. 23 to file its comment over the motions.
Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, who is also one of the respondents in the complaint, said that he could not recall that OSG participated in any preliminary investigation in any criminal case before the DOJ.
“The entire office had nothing to do with the… criminal investigation. I think if you look back at the history of the OSG, I don’t think the OSG did that,” he said, in an interview.
Hilbay said that when he was still solicitor general, he did not think of interfering in criminal matters because the power of the OSG in criminal cases is limited to appeals.
“The independence of that office will be lost if at that level it is already interfering,” he added.
Miranda defended the OSG decision to represent as lead counsel of the PNP-CIDG, saying it is not the first time it has done so.
She pointed out that last year the OSG was the lead counsel of the PNP-CIDG during the preliminary investigation of the criminal complaint filed against suspected drug lord Peter Lim.
Following the preliminary investigation, the DOJ filed charges againstLim and his co-accused last year for drug charges.
In its latest complaint, the PNP-CIDG accused Robredo and her co-respondents of having committed sedition, inciting to sedition, cyber libel, libel, estafa, harboring a criminal, and obstruction of justice, for their alleged involvement in a plot to destabilize and oust President Duterte.
The repsondents have all denied being part of such a plot.
The DOJ on Friday started the preliminary investigation on the criminal complaint filed against Robredo, several opposition leaders and Catholic clergy.
Prosecutors led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas was supposed to receive the counter-affidavits of Robredo and other respondents, but instead they received at least 15 motions seeking the production of evidence in the hands of the complaints against the respondents.
Torrevillas said the investigating panel received 15 motions in relation to the production of evidence in the case.
Robredo’s camp even asked the prosecutors that she be allowed not to file her counter-affidavit until she has received the evidence from the PNP-CIDG.
So far, the complainant’s only known witness is Peter Joemel Advincula alias “Bikoy,” but it made a reservation to submit additional evidence.
“Where is the evidence?” Torrevillas asked during the hearing.
The DOJ panel also directed the PNP-CIDG to provide copies of video footage it submitted as evidence to all of the 38 respondents in the case within five days.
Several defense lawyers also questioned the authority of the Office of the Solicitor General to represent the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group before the DOJ.
In its complaint, the PNP-CIDG accused Robredo and other opposition leaders of involvement in the alleged plot to destabilize and oust Duterte.
The respondents were allegedly behind the release of the “Ang Totoong Narco-list” video featuring Advincula alias “Bikoy,” the hooded man, who linked Duterte, his family members and several associates in the illegal drug trade in the country.
Advincula is among those charged but he is likely to be used as state witness for the prosecution.
In his affidavit, Advincula said the release of the videos was part of the so-called Project Sodoma hatched by the respondents.
Project Sodoma allegedly sought to publicly discredit the President and destabilize his government by implicating him, his family, and other government officials in drug syndicates.
The project, which was planned as early as August 2018, was also intended allegedly to derail the senatorial bid of the candidates under the Hugpong ng Pagbabago in the last election and at the same time prop up those from the opposition Otso Diretso.
At the end of the hearing, the panel of prosecutors rescheduled the submission of counter-affidavits on Sept. 6 at 9 a.m.
In a statement, Erin Tañada, Liberal Party vice president for external affairs, denounced the charges against them as political harassment intended to silence the political opposition.
“This is the biggest case the collective opposition has so far faced under this administration. The Vice President, lawmakers, former senatorial candidates, human rights activists, private citizens, even priests and bishops have not been spared in this massive legal attack against those who have not stayed silent against the mass murder of drug suspects, the kowtowing to China, and the revisionism of Marcos history,” Tañada said.
Tañada also condemned the decision of the Office of the Solicitor General, whose mandate is to be an independent and autonomous office, to act as lawyer for complainant PNP-CIDG.
“This is not even the first time the OSG has been involved in silencing critics. We recall the quo warranto case against former Chief Justice Sereno, which the Solicitor General himself has called his legacy and a triumph. Is this another case he is orchestrating?” he said.
“If they think they can silence us. If they think that these attacks would stop us from telling the truth. If they think dragging us down in the courts of public opinion would quiet dissent, they are wrong,” he added.
“Dissent is essential to a democracy. We will continue to fight against abuses of power. We will continue to call out questionable actions and decisions. Most importantly, we stand by our people andcontinue to defend our democracy,” he said.
