THE chief of staff of Senator Grace Poe on Monday contradicted the assertion of a dismissed Iglesia Ni Cristo minister that she could be charged with graft for supporting the religious group’s protest rallies against Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.
“Senator Poe did not persuade, induce or influence Secretary De Lima to commit any violation of the law,” Nelson Victorino said in a statement to reporters.
He said there was “no legal and factual bases” to charge Poe for violating the anti-graft law for allegedly backing the anti-De Lima rallies.
Trixie Cruz-Angeles, the lawyer of dismissed INC minister Isaias Samson Jr., earlier said Poe might have violated the anti-graft law when she backed the INC’s protest rallies against De Lima.
Samson had filed a criminal complaint for serious illegal detention against some Sangguniang members of the INC with the Department of Justice.
Poe earlier said De Lima should face the protesters and explain the situation. She said De Lima should also explain the merits of the INC case to the public and why her department was handling it.
Angeles said Poe’s statement violated Section 3(a) of the Anti-Graft Law.
She said that section considered as a crime the act of “persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act constituting a violation of rules and regulations duly promulgated by competent authority or an offense in connection with the official duties of the latter, or allowing himself to be persuaded, induced, or influenced to commit such violation or offense.”