Palace: Case vs Teehankee release will be handled by DOJ

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is leaving the matter of the Teehankee pardon to legal minds, with a Palace official saying that the justice secretary will be interpreting whether the case was "legally feasible." This came from Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita in the wake of reports that a lawyer has questioned President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's grant of clemency to Claudio Teehankee Jr, the son of the former chief justice who shot a 16-year-old girl and two youths in 1991. Two of the victims - Maureen Hultman and Roland John Chapman - died while the third, Jussi Olavi Leino, survived despite being shot in the head. "This thing will have to go through our legal people in the government notably (Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez) who will interpret whether it is legally feasible or legally proper to question the decision made by the president which is covered after all by a provision in the Constitution on her power absolute power and authority to grant exec clemency,"Ermita said. "But his is a legal matter I'm not in the position to tell you outright whether that will prosper or not,"he added. Ermita said while it is a prerogative of the President under the Constitution to grant clemency, they would allow the necessary body to make a determination of its legality. He added that while the Constitution did not indicate if the President's prerogative to grant pardons and clemency could be questioned, "it behooves upon the Supreme court to make a decision." He added that rather than preempt the decision of the DOJ and the Supreme Court, they would just await the outcome of the petition filed by lawyer Ernesto Francisco on behalf of the families of Teehankee's victims. Francisco, in his petition asked the High Court to nullify the Board of Pardons and Parole's recommendation for sentence commutation and the subsequent grant of executive clemency to released Teehankee. Teehankee, the son of the late former Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee Sr, was convicted in 1995. He was granted executive clemency by Arroyo on September 28, on the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Parole, and released on the night of October 2. - GMANews.TV