Panelo hits Trillanes for vilifying his name over Sanchez’s case

September 6, 2019

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo slammed on Friday former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for vilifying his name by saying that he was "untouchable."

In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said that unlike in the Aquino administration wherein there were so-called "Kaibigan, Kabarilan, and Kaklase (KKK)," under the Duterte administration, there is no "sacred cow."

"Administration critic Antonio Trillanes IV has once again appeared before the cameras to vilify my name by saying that I am untouchable in the current administration and worse, dragging PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) into the issue by insinuating the innuendo that my referral to the Bureau of Pardons and Parole, which he took to mean as a recommendation to the grant of the application of Mr. Antonio Sanchez’s application for executive clemency (obviously adopting the malicious and wrongful meaning to the perfunctory act I performed), had the blessings of the President," he said.

During a Senate inquiry on the law on good conduct time allowance, it was disclosed that Panelo referred the request of executive clemency by Sanchez's family for the rapist and murderer former Calauan mayor to the Board of Pardons and Parole.

"I should by now be used to the vilification binge of the former military renegade whose departure from the Senate was a fresh wind blowing into a suffocated environment," Panelo said.

Panelo said for some "gullible souls who may have been deceived by the vilifying remarks of Mr. Trillanes, we reiterate: There are no sacred cows under the Duterte Administration."

"Our people have witnessed that there are no Kaibigan, Kabarilan, and Kaklase (KKK) in this Administration which the previous dispensation is associated with. All appointees of the incumbent President, including this representation, are on their toes as PRRD has zero tolerance against malfeasance and corruption," he said.

He said Duterte does not mince words in giving walking papers to officials involved in such practices.

Panelo reiterated that he exercised a high degree of professionalism and full transparency in his three years in serving the government.

In a recent press conference, Duterte defended Panelo for his action over Sanchez's case.

"As the President has said, what I did was not just the correct way but the only and correct way of handling the matter. I have effectively inhibited from the concern of the daughter of Mr. Sanchez with respect to the case of the latter by passing the same to the appropriate office with an official correspondence," he said.

Panelo used to be Sanchez's lawyer in his rape-slay case in 1993.

"Res ipsa loquitur. The thing speaks for it self. There can be no clearer conscience than mine, on this matter," said Panelo. Celerina Monte/DMS