SENATOR Leila de Lima is using her position to suppress the ongoing investigation on her alleged involvement in drug trafficking inside the National Bilibid Prison, Solicitor-General Jose Calida said Thursday.
Reiterating his description of De Lima as “Public Enemy No. 1,” Calida pointed out that the senator has not explained why narcotics trafficking flourished at the national penitentiary during her watch as former President Benigno Aquino III’s justice secretary.
“She was a secretary of justice. It is her duty to stop the proliferation of drugs and she allowed the proliferation of drugs on her own turf, the National Penitentiary, and because of that, the ripple effect in the country,” he told reporters in a chance interview on Thursday.
A reliable source in the Bureau of Immigration also complained that De Lima, along with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and former Senate President Franklin Drilon, are also using their legislative power of investigation to hit Duterte at the expense of ordinary government workers.
“Those three senators want a probe into the Fontana bribery case so they will have another circus to hit the President,” the source said.
The source said they believe that the three senators want to pit Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente against his boss Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre so they can attack Duterte.
“By doing so, De Lima can paint Aguirre as a vindictive political plotter and weaken the government’s cases against her while Trillanes can gain publicity mileage. Drilon, on the other hand, can name whoever he wants in the bureau,” the source said.
Calida confirmed that that may be the strategy of De Lima who is also using her fellow senators for her ends.
“Now isn’t that the work of a Public Enemy No. 1? She’s a senator. She is using her power to suppress investigation. She does not want to be investigated. What kind of a public official is that?” Calida added.
Calida likewise stressed that the so-called “test case” filed by De Lima against Duterte with the Supreme Court will not prosper.
“There’s another interesting case concerning Public Enemy No. 1. I’m referring to Senator Leila de Lima versus Rodrigo Roa Duterte in the case for the issuance of a writ of habeas data. Again, I cannot yet argue the merits because this is still sub judice,” the government’s top lawyer said.
“The problem with Senator De Lima is that there is an impregnable wall. The President has absolute immunity during his term. He cannot be sued,” he added.