{"id":4781,"date":"2022-06-29T18:59:23","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T10:59:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csspsinag.wordpress.com\/?p=4781"},"modified":"2022-06-29T18:59:23","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T10:59:23","slug":"calida-the-hardworking-crony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/2022\/06\/29\/calida-the-hardworking-crony\/","title":{"rendered":"Calida: The hardworking crony"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is no secret that the highest position in the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is currently occupied by Duterte\u2019s long time friend, Atty. Jose Calida, who also served by his side as presidential campaign manager in the latter’s dramatic rise to power in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is no secret that the highest position in the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is currently occupied by Duterte\u2019s long time friend, Atty. Jose Calida, who also served by his side as presidential campaign manager in the latter’s dramatic rise to power in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what a fruitful friendship, I dare add, a successful investment and its return has it been for Calida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In just four years of service as the Duterte administration\u2019s Solicitor General (SolGen), Calida reached great heights by becoming the second highest paid government official in the country for 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calida owes this title to the exorbitant honorariums and allowances amounting to more than ten million pesos given to the SolGen’s office by its government agency clients in need of legal representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Calida maintains his position as the highest paid solicitor general in the history of the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primarily, the OSG is \u201can independent and autonomous office attached to the Department of Justice\u201d that represents the Republic, from its agencies to its officials, in legal matters. According to its official website, the OSG prides itself on its \u201cI.D.E.A.L.\u201d core values: integrity, dedication, excellence, accountability, and loyalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has Calida performed the ideal duties of a Solicitor General in line with his Office’s \u201cI.D.E.A.L.\u201d core values?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE I.D.E.A.L. LAWYER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last 2018, Duterte came to his friend\u2019s defense when the Senate went after Calida\u2019s family-owned business which has been awarded with multiple suspicious billion-peso government contracts. According to Duterte, Calida had been performing well and had no reason to be subjected to Congressional oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But of course, SolGen Calida\u2019s financial success would not have been possible if he didn\u2019t perform well \u2014 for his master, that is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, the ever-\u201cloyal\u201d Solicitor General went straight and hard at work to please the Duterte administration and its political allies. And there\u2019s no better place to start than to appease the ego and family of Duterte\u2019s sore loser friend and tyrant\u2019s son Bongbong Marcos, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his first year as SolGen, Calida pushed to bury the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The SolGen took it upon himself to brand the burial as \u201chealing\u201d for the two-decade abuses of Marcos, and disregard the uproar from Martial law victims opposing the burial of their tormentor beside the nation’s heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also Calida’s handiwork that allowed the contested extension of Martial law in Mindanao. Spanning over two years, Karapatan Alliance Philippines Inc. reported over 800,000 cases of civil and political rights violations while Mindanao was under Martial law at the height of the Marawi siege – now used as a justification for Duterte’s draconian Terror Law<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calida even extends his office\u2019s legal opinion for cases which are not represented by the OSG, thereby bypassing the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice. As was the case in the quo warranto petition he filed against ABS-CBN that forced the hand of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to close the network even before Congress can grant provisional authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braving the cries of the abused with determination, Calida does it all for the sake of his misplaced loyalty and vested interests. His marksmanship in the betrayal of the Filipino people will forever be part of the attempts to write history wherein dictators and their allies are protagonists and heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is Calida’s ideal of loyalty: a subservient dog blind to its master\u2019s atrocities and crimes against the people, allowing a family of thieves to make a trio of dictators and corrupt men in our history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His Marcosian initiatives have also intensified to engineer social amnesia. Well-underway and already approved on its third reading, the bill that might pave the way for this year\u2019s September 11 to be the first of many dark days of an abused nation forced to celebrate its abuser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Calida\u2019s assistance in the Marcoses\u2019 advances will not be forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is no easy task to intentionally close one\u2019s eyes from injustice, especially when one is an expert of the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True to the OSG\u2019s core value of dedication, albeit to his Chief Executive friend and not to the actual Filipinos they both supposedly serve, Calida\u2019s efforts has led President Duterte to brand him as his “alter ego.” Calida is often dispatched by the President to represent the administration against its critics and utilize the law to punish the “supreme law” under a dictatorship – Duterte.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GENEROUS CLIENTS, GENEROUS OSG<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calida\u2019s swallowing of his principles keeps him a trustworthy ally of President Duterte who has publicly declared his eagerness to see and help his friends become richer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps SolGen Calida also inculcates Duterte’s virtue of generosity and extends it to the \u201cI.D.E.A.L.\u201d lawyers working under the OSG. Since 2018, the OSG has been hounded by the Commission on Audit (COA) for over P7-million worth of travel expenses alone that lack proper documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a report by Rappler, COA has already given the OSG \u201cnotices of suspension, disallowance and charge against P21 million worth of [the office\u2019s] expenses.\u201d Yet again, the OSG earned COA\u2019s ire in 2019 as it remained consistent with its undocumented million-peso travels and cash advances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ: https:\/\/rappler.com\/nation\/osg-travels-2019-audit-report<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COA asserts that granting cash advances with insufficient documentation is in violation of Presidential Decree 1445 or the Government Auditing Code of the Philippines which mandates full documentation before government funds can be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always the sensitive man and father figure, maybe Tatay Digong is extending the grace he gave Beijing and also doesn\u2019t want to hurt Calida\u2019s feelings with his very own Executive Order No. 77 (EO 77) which concretizes the president\u2019s \u201chatred\u201d of the wasteful spending of public funds in the form of government officials\u2019 lavish seminars, hotel accommodations, and travel expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand how can the OSG\u2019s clients \u2014 government agencies and officials \u2014 even afford to be so generous in spoiling the government\u2019s chief counsel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of urgent public spending, the government seems to have run out of generosity as healthcare professionals die before they even get a taste of their meager P500 hazard pay promised by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DONE D.E.A.L.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Palace has repeatedly denied Duterte\u2019s cronyism \u2014 a similar tendency he shares with the tyrant Marcos whom Calida helped bury in the fields reserved for heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the sake of undeserving and unqualified cronies, Malaca\u00f1ang has now stopped releasing appointment papers after the new Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) head admitted that he is scared of leading an agency because of his own ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Calida is certainly making the most out of his decision to stay as Duterte\u2019s appointed Solicitor General after passing up the chance of applying for Ombudsman \u2014 a position in charge of fighting graft and corruption and something he is qualified for when we talk about Duterte’s standards \u2014 last 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And under the leadership of Duterte\u2019s alter ego whose integrity seems to have been already sold off, maybe a good financial D.E.A.L. should be OSG\u2019s new core value by which it aspires to. Calida has proven himself the most ideal role model for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

History and Law may have been Calida’s weapons to target the critics and interests of his rabid boss Duterte, it is also history and law imposed by the people who will prevail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A day will come that history shall be once made again and rewrite it in favor of its real makers, the masses, who is also the “supreme law” – not a tyrant named Duterte who will be remembered in history as the Chief Executive who violated the law in his first day in office by massacring his own people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calida may be hardworking but the people are also working hard to reap the ideal society \u2014 one where the ilks of Duterte are genuinely powerless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#OustDuterte<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured image courtesy of LeAnne Jazul<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is no secret that the highest position in the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is currently occupied by Duterte\u2019s long time friend, Atty. Jose Calida, who also served by his side as presidential campaign manager in the latter’s dramatic rise to power in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[122],"class_list":["post-4781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/sinag-web-banner-13-1.png","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5363,"url":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/2022\/10\/04\/3-marcos-top-officials-resign\/","url_meta":{"origin":4781,"position":0},"title":"3 Marcos top officials resign","author":"Staff","date":"4 October 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Days before Bongbong Marcos' 100th day in office, three government officials have resigned from their posts for various reasons\u2014suspecting some form of power struggle in the Palace. Days before Bongbong Marcos' 100th day in office, three government officials have resigned from their posts for various reasons\u2014suspecting some form of power\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/sinag-web-banner-2-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/sinag-web-banner-2-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/sinag-web-banner-2-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/sinag-web-banner-2-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/sinag-web-banner-2-2.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/sinag-web-banner-2-2.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4031,"url":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/2022\/03\/07\/reklamo-ni-calida-sa-rappler-comelec-deal-niresbakan-ni-badoy\/","url_meta":{"origin":4781,"position":1},"title":"Reklamo ni Calida sa Rappler-COMELEC deal, niresbakan ni Badoy","author":"Staff","date":"7 March 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Maaalalang kabilang din si Lorraine Badoy sa mga na-fact-check ng Rappler matapos niyang i-red-tag ang Makabayan Bloc na \u201curban operatives\u201d umano ng Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) sa isang Facebook post. Naghain ng reklamo si Solicitor General Jose Calida ngayong Lunes, Marso 7, sa Korte Suprema upang\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "National News"","block_context":{"text":"National News","link":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/category\/news\/national-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sinag-web-banner-41-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sinag-web-banner-41-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sinag-web-banner-41-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sinag-web-banner-41-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sinag-web-banner-41-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/sinag-web-banner-41-1.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4804,"url":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/2022\/07\/01\/unsubtle-crony-traits-the-marcos-cabinet-part-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":4781,"position":2},"title":"Unsubtle Crony Traits: The Marcos Cabinet \u2014 Part 3","author":"Staff","date":"1 July 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Marcos, Jr. officially took oath as the 17th president of the country; yet the masses will never claim a son's dictator nor welcome an exiled and criminal family back into Malaca\u00f1ang. The people assert resistance against the Marcoses' desperate hike up to power, laying out no plans but the mere\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Others"","block_context":{"text":"Others","link":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/category\/others\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sinag-web-banner-20.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sinag-web-banner-20.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sinag-web-banner-20.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sinag-web-banner-20.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sinag-web-banner-20.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sinag-web-banner-20.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2804,"url":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/2021\/10\/11\/dela-rosa-admits-having-no-plans-to-run-for-presidency\/","url_meta":{"origin":4781,"position":3},"title":"Dela Rosa admits having no plans to run for presidency","author":"Staff","date":"11 October 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many Filipinos speculate that Dela Rosa is a \u201cplaceholder\u201d for the position of PDP-Laban\u2019s standard bearer, and raise that Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio will run for instead. This can be chalked up to the statements he has made, saying on multiple occasions that he openly welcomes Sara Duterte to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/sinag-web-banner-3-2-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/sinag-web-banner-3-2-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/sinag-web-banner-3-2-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/sinag-web-banner-3-2-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/sinag-web-banner-3-2-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/sinag-web-banner-3-2-1.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1143,"url":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/2021\/05\/12\/fight-and-make-duterte-pay-for-national-treachery-cpp\/","url_meta":{"origin":4781,"position":4},"title":"‘Fight and make Duterte pay for national treachery’ \u2014 CPP","author":"emdeborja","date":"12 May 2021","format":"image","excerpt":"The revolutionary movement led by the CPP insisted that \u201cDuterte\u2019s obsequiousness to China is unacceptable to the Filipino people.\" As President Duterte retreated from his challenge to debate with retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "National News"","block_context":{"text":"National News","link":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/category\/news\/national-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/de-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/de-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/de-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/de-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/de-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/de-1.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4788,"url":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/2022\/06\/29\/rappler-shutdown-order-by-duterte-govt-before-stepping-down\/","url_meta":{"origin":4781,"position":5},"title":"Rappler shutdown order by Duterte govt before stepping down","author":"Staff","date":"29 June 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a document dated June 28, Tuesday, upholding its earlier decision in 2018 to repeal the certificates of incorporation of Rappler. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a document dated June 28, Tuesday, upholding its earlier decision in 2018 to repeal the certificates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/sinag-web-banner-1-4-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/sinag-web-banner-1-4-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/sinag-web-banner-1-4-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/sinag-web-banner-1-4-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/sinag-web-banner-1-4-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/sinag-web-banner-1-4-1.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":122,"user_id":9,"is_guest":0,"slug":"csspsinag","display_name":"Staff","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/194807626fee183640d3de57e788ba7c8c0d40bd86bfc1237bed56bcd3832c1b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4781"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}