Sanchez's wife visited Panelo's office amid clemency plea

Elvira Sanchez, the wife of convicted murderer-rapist Antonio Sanchez, visited the office of presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo in Malacañang a day before the family asked for his endorsement of his former client’s plea for executive clemency.

Information from the security logbook of the New Executive Building, where Panelo’s office is located, showed Elvira went to the Palace on February 7 at 10:33 a.m, according to a tweet by dzBB’s Tuesday Niu.

Log book sa lobby guard ng New Exec Bldg kung saan matatagpuan ang opisina ni Sec Panelo. Bumisita sa kaniya si Gng. Elvira Sanchez, Feb 7, 2019, 10:33 am, 1 araw bago nya natanggap ang letter of request para sa hiling na executive celemency para kay ex Mayor Sanchez.@dzbb pic.twitter.com/ctuRgFf8Fj

— Tuesday Niu (@mamutuesday) September 4, 2019

Sanchez’s daughter, Marie Antonelvie, sent an email to Panelo’s office regarding the request for recommendation on February 8.

On Tuesday, Panelo, who is also the chief presidential legal counsel, revealed that he met with Sanchez’s family after they asked for his recommendation.

He did not state the date but based on the security logbook, Elvira went to the Palace on February 26, the same day he referred the letter to the Board of Pardons and Parole (BPP), asking the agency to evaluate it and make the appropriate action.

Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte was aware of the meeting although he did not mention to the chief executive the request for pardon. The Palace spokesman said there was “nothing personal” with his meeting with the family and that he never pushed for the early release of Sanchez from the New Bilibid Prison.

“It’s all official. It’s all recorded. There’s nothing there,” Panelo said at a news conference on Tuesday.

BPP Executive Reynaldo Bayang, in a letter to Panelo on March 19, said the board stood by its December 2018 decision to junk Sanchez’s application for executive clemency, citing the “gravity of the offenses” the former Calauan, Laguna mayor had committed.

Sanchez was sentenced to lengthy jail terms in 1995 for raping and killing University of the Philippines-Los Baños student Eileen Sarmenta and murdering her friend and fellow UPLB student Allan Gomez in 1993.

Panelo served as one of Sanchez’s lawyers during the trial. —Virgil Lopez/KBK, GMA News