JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Sunday justified the admission of self-confessed drug peddler Kerwin Espinosa to the government’s witness protection program.
He rejected Senator Leila de Lima’s claim that Espinosa, who implicated her in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison, was not qualified as a state witness under the program.
De Lima, who has been accused by Espinosa and other high-profile inmates in NBP of receiving millions of pesos in drug money, claims that the drug lord is not eligible for WPP coverage because he is the most guilty among those accused in the illegal drug trade.
But Aguirre said De Lima, and his predecessor at the Justice department, “is absolutely wrong.”
He said De Lima was the one being tagged as the “most guilty” by Espinosa and several other witnesses for being the alleged beneficiary of drug money and protector of those involved in the illegal drug trade.
“Unless she has contracted amnesia, all NBP inmates including Jaybee Sebastian pointed to her as the instigator who induced and tolerated the distribution of illegal drugs nationwide,” Aguirre said in a phone interview.
He said under the law, Espinosa and the other inmates were classified as principal by participation, while De Lima was considered a principal by inducement based on the testimonies and evidence gathered by probers.
“The Supreme Court had ruled that the latter is the most guilty because without inducement, the crime would have not been committed,” Aguirre said.
He took exception De Lima’s statement that he was a mediocre lawyer and said De Lima “does not know the law.”
De Lima has also accused Aguirre of faking the evidence against her as he was fond of faking things like his hair.
Last week, Aguirre said Espinosa, who is a co-respondent of De Lima in the sixth criminal case filed against her, was accepted by the Justice department as a state witness after passing the criteria under the WPP.
“The prosecution will later on ask for the dismissal of the charges against Kerwin or for the dropping of Kerwin as one of the accused. But it will still depend on the court,” he said.