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Friday, March 29, 2024

Drug lord may testify vs De Lima

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THE drug lord accused of raising money for Senator Leila de Lima, Jaybee Sebastian, will be presented as a hostile witness at the next hearing of the House panel investigating the proliferation of illegal drugs in the New Bilibid Prison if he is subpoenaed, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Sunday.

Aguirre said he was not sure whether Sebastian, whom De Lima identified as a government informer, would implicate or clear the senator, but said he could not refuse a subpoena from the House panel.

“If he refuses to comply with a subpoena [for him attend the House inquiry], we will forcibly take him from his detention cell because it a compulsory process,” Aguirre said in a radio interview.

Jaybee Sebastian

However, Aguirre clarified that the House committee on justice has yet to issue a subpoena to Sebastian.

Seven witnesses presented by Aguirre at last week’s hearing, including several NBP inmates, all pointed to Sebastian as the one who allegedly ordered them to collect money from their fellow inmates by selling illegal drugs to raise money for the senatorial candidacy of De Lima in the May 9 polls.

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Aguirre said if the Department of Justice is directed to produce Sebastian before the House inquiry, they have to comply.

Besides, Aguirre noted that prisoners’ political rights are suspended while serving their term. 

“So they don’t have rights to refuse a subpoena,” he said.

Because he is not a DoJ witness, it is unclear what Sebastian will tell the committee, Aguirre said.

“I won’t speculate. He will only do two things: tell the truth or tell a lie,” he said.

The next hearing is on Oct. 5.

Aguirre earlier said the testimony of the inmates as well as that of Philippine National Police Deputy Chief for Operations Director Benjamin Magalong have strengthen the government’s case against De Lima but he said he would wait for additional evidence to build an airtight case before filing the charges.

“We have more than probable cause but I want an airtight case,” he said.

In his testimony, Magalong said De Lima prevented the PNP-CIDG, which he headed at that time and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency from taking part in a surprise raid to get rid of illegal activities inside the national penitentiary in 2014.

Magalong said his men and the PDEA were supposed to be part of the operation as agreed upon, but eventually the raid was carried out by the Bureau of Corrections and the PNP-National Capital Region Police Office then headed by Chief Supt. Marcelo Garbo.

Garbo was one of the police generals linked by President Rodrigo Duterte to the illegal drug trade.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House committee on justice, said De Lima was “talking out of tune” when she complained that convicted criminals should not be believed when they testified against her. 

“We summoned witnesses who have first hand-knowledge of the illegal activities in prison. Who else can they be but convicted criminals themselves?” Umali said.

Nueva Ecija Rep. Magnolia Antonino said De Lima “should be thankful that she’s not in shackles.”

“Senator Leila De Lima should stop the drama,” Antonino said. “Allegations by witnesses that she personally abetted the peddling of illegal narcotics inside and outside of the NBP is a very serious accusation and it would take more than just a sweeping denial to refute it.”

In an interview over radio dzBB, Aguirre said Sebastian, if he would tell the truth, would pin down De Lima and confirm the allegations made by President Rodrigo Duterte that the senator was the top official in the drugs matrix that was the recipient of drug money in the NBP.

Inmates had testified that De Lima had frequented the NBP and would stay as long as two to three hours alone with Sebastian in the latter’s air conditioned hut.

They also said Sebastian had paid De Lima some P10 million to effect the transfer of his competitors known as the Bilibid 19 so that Sebastian could lord it over the drug trade at NBP for eight months from Dec. 15, 2014.

They also said Sebastian forced his fellow inmates to sell drugs to “raise funds for De Lima’s senatorial campaign amounting to P3 million to P5 million a month.” 

De Lima has denied all the allegations and said Sebastian was a “government asset.” 

Aguirre said the DoJ was still trying to locate Ronnie Dayan, De Lima’s alleged ex-driver-lover, to also testify against her.

The inmates said Dayan acted as De Lima’s bagman and collected the drug money on her behalf.

Aguirre said he has already instructed the National Bureau of Investigation to dig deeper into the drug connection of De Lima based on what the DoJ had gathered as evidence so far.

“I expect before the end of the year, the NBI will be able to file a case against De Lima,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre said there would be no drug hearings this week as he would be in the entourage of the President during his visit in Vietnam.

The hearings will resume on Oct. 5.

Also on Sunday, a Palace official refused to comment on Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat’s appeal not to drag former President Benigno Aquino III and the Liberal Party into the illegal drugs issue, warning that this could lead to a political realignment. With Sandy Araneta

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