ASEANEWS HEADLINES: MANILA- Salvador Panelo referred Antonio Sanchez clemency bid to board

Salvador Panelo referred Antonio Sanchez clemency bid to board

Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) –

MANILA, Philippines — Chief presidential legal counsel and presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo made an official referral of the request of the family of rape-murder convict Antonio Sanchez for executive clemency, a move that senators warned could get him into trouble.

Panelo’s letter to Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP) executive director Reynaldo Bayang, dated Feb. 26, 2019, surfaced yesterday at the inquiry of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee into the controversy over the implementation of Republic Act 10592 or the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the committee, was grilling members of Sanchez’s family as well as BPP officials on the practice of securing endorsements on such appeals for clemency or pardon. .