Jose Calida

Jose Callangan Calida (born July 7, 1950) is a Filipino lawyer. He previously served as Undersecretary of Justice and executive director of Dangerous Drugs Board under the Arroyo administration, as Solicitor General under the Duterte administration, and as Chairman of Commission on Audit (COA) under the Marcos administration.

During his time as a Solicitor General, Calida is a controversial figure on the issues regarding the shutdown of television network ABS-CBN during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Life and education Calida was born in Nuevo Iloco, Davao (present-day Mawab, Davao de Oro). A born again Christian, he is married to Milagros Parantar Ordaneza who is also from Davao with whom he has three children.

Calida faces criminal and administrative charges at the Office of the Ombudsman. 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 worth of contracts from the Department of Justice and other government agencies. 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.

Amid the Philippine drug war, Calida blocked the release of documents on drug war killings. In 2017 and 2019, the Supreme Court ordered Calida to release documents on more than 3,000 killings during the drug war.

Calida was reported to be the second highest-paid government official in 2019, earning according to a report from Commission on Audit (COA). He earned a cumulative in allowances and honoraria from 2017 to 2020. The COA flagged Calida and his office for excessive allowances.

In March 2020, the House of Representatives summoned Calida to appear in an investigation on in unpaid debts owed to the government by Meralco and First Gen Hydro Power Corporation.

During the oral arguments at the Supreme Court on the Anti-Terror Law in April 2021, Calida red-tagged former Bayan Muna Congress Representative Neri Colmenares and progressive groups. Colmenares criticized Calida, saying that red-tagging is a deadly offense that threatens the life and security of its victims.

Calida was appointed by President-elect Bongbong Marcos as the Chairman of Commission on Audit (COA) on June 29, 2022; he assumed the post on July 4. However, his appointment was bypassed by the Commission on Appointments (CA) on September 28 and he was not reappointed by Marcos. Calida resigned from the post on October 4 due to undisclosed reasons; he was replaced by Gamaliel Cordoba.

Wikipedia biography incident During his time as a Solicitor General under President Rodrigo Duterte, Jose Calida successfully ordered the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) a cease and desist order against the Philippines' largest television network, ABS-CBN. After the network ceased its broadcasting operations on May 5, 2020, an IP user added a nickname "Demonyo" to his Wikipedia biography. As of May 8, Calida's Wikipedia article has no nicknames at all.