FORMER Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Atty. Salvador Panelo reiterated that there is no legal basis for the lower house of Congress to summon Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy for a hearing by the Legislative Franchises Committee regarding alleged franchise violations by SMNI.
This statement followed Rep. Johnny Pimentel’s assertion that Pastor Apollo should attend the hearing if he has nothing to hide, warning of possible SMNI closure if he fails to comply with the House subpoena.
Panelo disagreed, saying that Pastor Apollo has no connection to SMNI based on submitted data to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He also questioned the necessity of calling individuals not involved in SMNI’s operations.
“The House of Representatives’ committee does not have a legal basis to summon Pastor Quiboloy because he has no involvement in SMNI’s operations. You are investigating SMNI’s violations, so why call people not involved in the network’s operations? What is this? Then you say if he [Pastor Apollo] doesn’t show up, you will close SMNI? That’s a further violation— a violation of the constitution, a violation of SMNI’s rights, a violation of Pastor Quiboloy’s rights, and you want to imprison him because he won’t attend. Even if he [Pastor Apollo] says he has no involvement, the Securities and Exchange Commission records show that he has no involvement in the network’s operation,” Atty. Salvador Panelo – Former Chief Presidential Legal Counsel stated.
Criminal accusations vs Pastor Apollo should be heard in court—Atty. Panelo
The former chief presidential legal counsel argued that the court should be the proper venue for hearing the serious criminal accusations made by the Senator’s witnesses against Pastor Apollo.
“I’ve been repeatedly saying that, in fact, we made an article about it, and we’re saying that there is really no reason for the Senate Committee to investigate since the accusation is a crime or a serious crime. When we talk about crime, the court should be the one to judge. Even if Pastor goes there, you won’t know who is telling the truth or not. You will just give a platform for him to be criticized in public, so you really need to file a lawsuit—just file a lawsuit,” Panelo added.
Panelo also challenged Sen. Risa Hontiveros to confront and properly handle any evidence provided by Pastor Apollo that contradicts the claims made by the senator’s witnesses.
“My challenge to [Sen.] Chair Hontiveros: when you received that, bring it out and confront the witness on that evidence refuting his allegations so that your perspective on the matter is fair,” he stressed.
To recall, a case filed by one of Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ witnesses against Pastor Apollo was previously dismissed due to lack of substantial evidence.
