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MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte can only grant executive clemency after a person has been found guilty, the Justice Department said Sunday.
Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra issued the comment after Duterte said he had forgiven General Debold Sinas of the Philippine National Police (PNP) for throwing a birthday party one morning during the tight shutdown of Metro Manila.
“The prosecutor and the Department of Justice have to complete the preliminary investigation process. Executive clemency can come only after a guilty plea. If there is no guilty plea, there is no place for the executive clemency request,” said.
The president is “well aware” that a case against Sinas is still pending and “simply indicates his intention to act liberally, in consideration of General Sinas’ overall performance as a career policeman,” Guevarra said.
“I didn’t hear exactly what the president said. I need to know the context, but whatever the president said about his intention to pardon General Sinas, the Justice Department will do what it has a duty to do, and the El President can also do what is constitutionally authorized to do, “he said.
In May, Sinas sparked public ire for a morning morning, or pre-dawn birthday serenade, at the Bagong Diwa camp in Taguig City that allegedly violated the 10-person limit on gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Guevarra had confirmed that two separate complaints were filed against Sinas for the incident: one from the police in Taguig and another from the National Investigation Directorate filed with the DOJ.
Despite controversy and allegations of abuse when he headed the Central Visayas police, Duterte elected Sinas as head of the PNP as of November 10, replacing General Camilo Cascolan, who had reached mandatory retirement age.
“That’s me, if he was guilty there, he was pardoned. I didn’t see any bad sin with cheap, implications, bad malice, nothing. The other soldiers left, surprise tomorrow, the poor didn’t know it, ”Duterte said. Saturday.
Rodrigo Duterte, Debold Sinas, DOJ, Menardo Guevarra, Sinas mananita, Sinas Birthday Party, Department of Justice
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