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Gonzalez’s transfer due to age, health

By Christian V. Esguerra, Christine Avendaño
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:56:00 06/15/2009

Filed Under: Dacer-Corbito murders, Government, Health

MANILA, Philippines—Secretary Raul Gonzalez’s advanced age and failing health were the main factors that prompted his transfer from the Department of Justice (DoJ) to Malacañang as chief presidential legal counsel, a Palace official said Sunday.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said there was no truth to Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s allegation that Gonzalez was transferred in connection with the Dacer-Corbito double murder cases and a separate case involving a Chinese tycoon.

“Everyone knows that Secretary Gonzalez is no longer in the pink of health,” Remonde said in his weekly media forum on the government-run Radyo ng Bayan.

“He is already advanced in age. He already had a kidney transplant and, therefore, it would really be unfair for him to continue.”

But the fact that the 77-year-old Gonzalez was retained in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s inner circle meant that he still enjoyed her “trust and confidence,” Remonde said.

Gonzalez’s side

Gonzalez’s transfer to a somewhat obscure legal office triggered speculation that there was another reason for the move besides giving him a “less strenuous” job.

Remonde also said that erstwhile presidential legal adviser Jesus Dureza was returning to his old post as presidential adviser on Mindanao affairs. He said Dureza would keep his Cabinet rank.

Lacson on Saturday claimed he had information that Gonzalez was sacked because he supposedly could not keep his mouth shut on the government’s strategy on the Dacer-Corbito case.

Lacson, who is being implicated in the twin murders, said the government would have preferred to keep secret its plan to turn former Chief Supt. Cezar Mancao, a suspect in the case, into a state witness.

Denying Lacson’s assertions, Gonzalez Sunday said Ms Arroyo should have fired him and not transferred him to another Palace post if he had committed such blunders as Lacson had claimed.

“If I have done something wrong, I should have been fired,” Gonzalez said in a phone interview.

Strange coincidence

Gonzalez said apparently some people were feeding stories to Lacson.

In an interview earlier with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Gonzalez said he believed some people could be behind his departure from the justice department.

He conceded that his removal as justice secretary came at a time when he was actively pushing for the reopening of the Dacer-Corbito case.

“The coincidence is just too strong,” said Gonzalez, who played a role in the recent return of Mancao from the United States.

He said it was possible some people might have lobbied for him to be “out of the DoJ,” adding that he saw no reason why he should be shifted out of the justice department.

Gonzalez said, however, that he had no complaints against the President over what had happened.

He acknowledged that Ms Arroyo did tell him before she left on a visit to South Korea early this month that she was appointing him as her chief legal counsel.

“You’ll also be the chief counsel of the merged Lakas-Kampi,” he quoted her as telling him.

But he recalled also telling Ms Arroyo if it was possible for him to stay on at DoJ until August when he would mark his fifth year as justice secretary.

But then he was transferred to Malacañang early last week.

Nograles initiative

Gonzalez said he had also indicated to fellow Palace officials his desire to stay on as justice secretary because of the reopening of the Dacer-Corbito case.

“I was the one who resurrected this case. People agreed to come back because of my assurances. They may not be taken cared of well,” he said, referring to Mancao.

Gonzalez said he was not aware about Lacson’s claim that the Philippine Military Academy Class 1978, led by military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Romeo Prestoza, was the one who had worked behind the scenes to get Mancao to turn state witness.

Gonzalez said he got involved in the Mancao case after Speaker Prospero Nograles asked him if he could meet with Mancao’s family, whose members—like Nograles—hail from Davao.

Eventually, he said, the wife of Mancao sent him an e-mail and soon they were exchanging e-mail about Mancao’s bid to turn state witness.



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