While the Senate, led by Senator Leila De Lima, is investigating alleged extrajudicial killings in police anti-drugs operations, the House of Representatives is preparing another probe on the alleged proliferation of drugs at the National Bilibid Prison (NBP).
Particularly, the Lower House aims to ascertain if De Lima abetted the said proliferation while she was then the secretary of the Department of Justice. This allegation came up after President Rodrigo Duterte accused De Lima of conniving with her driver, Ronnie Dayan, in receiving financial support from drug lords detained at the Bilibid during the recent elections.
“Here is a senator complaining, when one day I will tell you that her driver himself, who was her lover, was the one also collecting money for her during the campaign,” Duterte had said.
Moreover, Duterte said the De Lima-Dayan tandem “gave rise” to the “unbridled, unhampered” corruption at the NBP during her stint as justice secretary. “Are you not surprised that during her term as Secretary of Justice, there were special privileges granted to almost all inmates?” a CNN report quoted Duterte as saying.
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With all these allegations coming no less than from the president of the Republic of the Philippines, the Lower House decided to make a thorough investigation on the matter surrounding the issue.
According to Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, the investigation aims to find out where the said shabu laboratory was exactly located at the Bilibid which Senator De Lima had repeatedly denied existed. Congress also wanted to know who are behind the illegal activity.
Batangas Rep. Raneo Abu, on the other hand, wanted to zoom in on a raid at the Bilibid when the said shabu lab was allegedly found along with high-powered firearms, makeshift weapons and a number of luxury items.
But Abu admitted that De Lima cannot be obliged to appear in the hearing. “Hindi naman natin pwedeng obligahin siya, nasa kanya iyan kung gusto nya umattend o hindi. Courtesiya,”(We can’t oblige her. It’s up to her if she wants to attend or not. Courtesy), Abu said.
But on Tuesday, August 23, Senator De Lima made clear her intention not to attend the hearing. “I don’t think they have a legitimate matter to be a subject of an inquiry in aid of legislation,” the Inquirer quoted Senator De Lima as saying. She is presently chairing the Senate primary committee investigating reported drug-related extrajudicial killings.
De Lima insisted during the interview at the Senate that she was responsible for exposing the propagation of illegal drugs at the Bilibid. So why should they investigate her?
Sources: (cnnphilippines.com, newsinfo.inquirer.net, philstar.com)
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