SENATOR Leila de Lima should face her accusers “for her own good” at congressional hearings where she is being accused of taking millions of pesos from drug lords operating inside the national penitentiary, President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief legal counsel said Wednesday.
“Senator Leila de Lima should appear before the House investigation,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo told the Manila Standard in an interview.
On the second day of marathon hearings at the House on Wednesday, high-profile inmates linked De Lima, a former Justice secretary, to the illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary, which was used to raise money for her campaign to become senator.
Asked about the possible charges that may be filed against De LIma, Panelo said that possible graft raps can be filed but he left the final determination to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre III, who is leading the presentation of evidence at the House.
“If she does not attend to the House probe, she already admits by her silence all the charges against her,” Panelo said.
Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus on Wednesday said De Lima faces criminal charges if she is found liable for the proliferation of drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison.
At a Quezon City news conference, De Jesus said those responsible for the proliferation of drugs inside the national penitentiary must be held accountable.
“No one is above the law, not even De Lima,” she said.
The women’s party-list representative welcomed the congressional inquiry in aid of legislation into De Lima’s supposed link to the drug trade at the NBP, she said.
“As long as there’s a comprehensive investigation to ensure the authenticity and genuineness of evidence, and that there is no violation of the process, we will appreciate it [probe], especially if the objective is to ferry out the truth,” she told the Manila Standard.
Congress must not only single out the drug proliferation at the national penitentiary only at the time of De Lima as Justice secretary, “but also even after De Lima’s term,” she said.
Senators allied with De Lima remained silent on the testimony of witnesses who linked her to the drug trade in hearings before the House.
Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon, also national vice chairman of the Liberal Party, refused to be interviewed.
Another LP stalwart, Senator Francis Pangilinan, told the Manila Standard that he cannot give any comment because he has not been following the House proceedings because he had other things to do.
Drilon, Pangilinan and De Lima ran under the LP ticket in the May elections.
On Tuesday night, Drilon and Pangilinan, along with Senators Risa Hontiveros and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, issued a statement saying they were deeply saddened by De Lima’s removal as chairman of the Senate justice committee.
“Elementary courtesy dictates that we as members of the majority bloc of the Senate should have been consulted. The concerns of our colleagues could have been addressed if there was an opportunity for a dialogue. No consultation or dialogue took place.
“We recognize the removal of Senator Leila de Lima as chair of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights as a political reality.
“Having said that, our alliance with the majority has always been based on the reforms that we believe will propel our nation to greater economic, political and social heights. We will continue to pursue these agenda. As long as we believe that these reforms can be achieved, we will remain with the majority,” the statement read.
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday said they were deeply concerned about the safety of De Lima, after inmates testifying before Congress divulged her personal contact information and home address.
“We are aghast that the lawmakers presiding over the hearing, who are political allies of President Rodrigo Duterte, conducted it in a way that grossly violates the privacy and the rights of a sitting legislator,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director, Human Rights Watch.
De Lima’s fellow legislators in both houses of Congress should denounce this attempt to silence and intimidate her, Kine added.
Kine said that smear campaign has occurred as De Lima has almost single-handedly challenged the government on the death toll of its “war on drugs” and the legality of those more than 2,000 killings since July 1.
Duterte’s enmity toward her has a long history, dating from the time De Lima, as head of the Commission on Human Rights, initiated investigations into the Davao Death Squad in Davao City where the president was mayor for more than two decades and where extrajudicial killings by a vicious death squad–which operated with the complicity and at times direct involvement of local government officials and police–ran rampant, Kine said.
“The government’s targeting of De Lima now appears to be nothing less than state-sanctioned intimidation due solely to her support for human rights and courageous and outspoken opposition to government attempts to justify extrajudicial violence as a form of crime control,” said Kine.