Jose Calida

Jose Callangan Calida (born July 7, 1950)[1] is a Filipino lawyer currently serving as the Solicitor General of the Philippines. He was sworn into the post on June 30, 2016 to replace Florin Hilbay. He previously served in the Arroyo administration as Undersecretary of the Department of Justice and as Executive Director of the Dangerous Drugs Board.[2][3]

Jose Calida
Calida in May 2017
Solicitor General of the Philippines
Assumed office
June 30, 2016
PresidentRodrigo Duterte
Preceded byFlorin Hilbay
Executive Director of the Dangerous Drugs Board
In office
January 21, 2004  October 31, 2004
PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo
Preceded byEfren Q. Fernandez
Succeeded byEdgar C. Galvante
Undersecretary of the Department of Justice
In office
March 12, 2001  January 20, 2004
PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo
Personal details
Born
Jose Callangan Calida

(1950-07-07) July 7, 1950
Nuevo Iloco, Davao, Philippines
NationalityFilipino
Political partyCitizens' Battle Against Corruption
Spouse(s)Milagros Parantar Ordaneza
EducationAteneo de Davao University (BA)
Ateneo de Manila University (LL.B.)
OccupationBusiness executive
ProfessionLawyer

Life and education

Calida was born in Nuevo Iloco, Davao in what is now the municipality of Mawab, Davao de Oro.[4][5][6] A born again Christian, he is married to Milagros Parantar Ordaneza who is also from Davao with whom he has three children.[1][3]

Calida holds a PhD's degree in English from the Ateneo de Davao University in 1969. He studied law at the Ateneo de Manila University Law School where he was a dean's lister. He graduated in 1973 and was admitted to the Bar the following year with a general average of 83.25 percent (the highest grade of 100 percent in Criminal Law, 90 percent in Civil Law and 90 percent in Taxation) in the 1974 Philippine Bar Examination.[3][1]

Calida is a member of the Aquila Legis Fraternity.

Career

Calida is a practicing lawyer and founding partner of J. Calida & Associates law firm based in Davao del Sur. He served as secretary general of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption during the administration of President Fidel Ramos and was the convenor of the God's People's Coalition for Righteousness that staged protests and prayer rallies against the proliferation of pornography and smut films in the 1990s. In 1997, he led the group called Support the Initiatives for the Good of the Nation or SIGN which pushed for Charter Change through people's initiative and helped the Pirma movement gather signatures to allow then President Fidel Ramos to run for reelection through a plebiscite.[1][3] He also co-founded the party list group called Citizens' Battle Against Corruption and served as its president in 1997.

Calida was a member of the prosecution team during the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada in 2000. Following the Second EDSA Revolution, he was appointed by the newly installed President Gloria Arroyo as the Undersecretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ) under Secretary Hernando B. Perez in 2001, Merceditas Gutierrez in 2002, and Simeon Datumanong in 2003. As Justice Undersecretary, he was in charge of the National Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel, the DOJ Task Force on Corruption and Internal Security, and the DOJ Task Force on Financial Fraud and Money Laundering. In 2004, he assumed the leadership of the Dangerous Drugs Board as the agency's Executive Director.[3]

Calida returned to private law and business after leaving government service in October 2004. He was president and chairman of the Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency, which won a contract with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation in 2010. He also served as senior vice president of the insurance company Prudential Guarantee and Assurance Inc. Calida was endorsed by then Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as a candidate for the Ombudsman post in 2011. Prior to his return to government service, he was also one of the campaign managers of the 2016 Duterte presidential campaign.[3][1][2]

Calida faces criminal and administrative charges at the Office of the Ombudsman.[7][8] According to one of the charges, Calida allegedly violated the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees for failing to divest his interest in his family-owned security agency, which received ₱261.39 million worth of contracts from the Department of Justice and other government agencies.[9][10][11] Calida has denied any conflict of interest and said he is not liable under the Code of Conduct for Public Officials nor the anti-graft law.[9]

Calida was reported to be the second highest-paid government official in 2019, earning ₱16.95 million according to a report from Commission on Audit (COA).[12][13]

See also

References

  1. Lo, R. (20 July 2002). "Donna and Carlo: No plan to do Nida Blanca movie". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  2. Inquirer Research; Pacia, S.I. "The Duterte Administration". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  3. "The Duterte Cabinet". Interaksyon. 1 June 2016. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  4. "Law List". Supreme Court of the Philippines. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  5. "Lawyers List". Integrated Bar of the Philippines. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  6. Perez, A.S. (31 May 2016). "Duterte bares more cabinet members". Sun.Star Davao. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
  7. "SolGen faces criminal, administrative charges at the Ombudsman". CNN. May 10, 2018. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  8. Ong, Czarina Nicole (May 10, 2018). "SolGen Calida faces multiple charges before Ombudsman". Manila Bulletin News. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  9. Buan, Lian (May 28, 2018). "Calida: No conflict of interest in gov't contracts even if I did not divest". Rappler. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  10. Cabato, Regine (June 21, 2018). "EXCLUSIVE: Justice Secretary: No anomalies in deals of SolGen's family firm with DOJ". CNN. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  11. Buan, Lian (May 29, 2018). "Gov't database shows additional P110M contracts for Calida firm". Rappler. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  12. "Calida now 2nd highest paid among Cabinet, GOCC officials". ABS-CBN News. July 29, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  13. O. Enano, Jhesset (30 July 2020). "Calida is 2nd highest-paid government official". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
Political offices
Preceded by
Efren Q. Fernandez
Executive Director of the Dangerous Drugs Board
January 21, 2004–October 31, 2004
Succeeded by
Edgar C. Galvante
Preceded by
Florin Hilbay
Solicitor General of the Philippines
2016–present
Incumbent
Order of precedence
Preceded by
Harry Roque
as Presidential Spokesperson
Order of Precedence of the Philippines
as Solicitor General of the Philippines
Succeeded by
Salvador Panelo
as Chief Presidential Legal Counsel
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.