De Lima hopeful gov’t would realize ‘dishonor’ in arresting her

Sen. Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE / LYN RILLON

More than a year after she was arrested, Senator Leila de Lima is still hopeful that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) would realize the “dishonor” her incarceration brought to government institutions.

“While I do not expect the DOJ and the NBI to admit that what they filed against me are fake charges, and what they have against me are perjured or coached witnesses, I still hope that one day they would realize the dishonor they have caused to their institutions and themselves when they started the drug war by jailing me, instead of capturing the real drug lords who continue to roam free and smuggle billions of pesos of shabu,” De Lima said in a statement on Tuesday.

The senator also encouraged the DOJ and NBI officials to tell the truth, to supposedly free the country from false information.

“By telling the truth, they would cleanse their conscience of guilt, spare my family from further sufferings, and save the country from lies and deceptions.

De Lima said this even as she lauded the government’s efforts in investigating police officers involved in the latest drug matrix.

“I must laud these efforts of the DOJ and the NBI in conducting such probe and case build-up on law enforcement officers involved in the illegal drug trade,” the senator said in a statement.

Last Thursday, President Rodrigo Duterte made public a new drug matrix, showing Philippine National Police (PNP) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) personnel allegedly involved in recycling illegal drugs.

Duterte ordered an investigation, including a lifestyle check on former PDEA Deputy Director General Ismael Fajardo Jr., former PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group head Sr. Supt. Eduardo Acierto, Sr. Supt Leonardo Ramos, Supt. Lorenzo Bacia, Insp. Lito Pirote, Insp. Conrado Caragdag, and SPO4 Alejandro Liwanag.

PNP Spokesperson Chief Supt. Benigno Durana Jr. said that involved police personnel had been relieved from their post and reassigned to the Holding and Accounting Unit in Camp Crame.

According to De Lima — a staunch critic of Duterte who is detained due to drug charges — this should have been the focus of the administration’s war on drugs, and not the poor people.

“This should always have been the government’s focus in the fight against illegal drugs, instead of carrying out a bloodbath of thousands that up to now has not resulted in any significant effect on the illegal drug trade,” she said.

“If only the government has focused on big-time drug syndicates and their accomplices in the law enforcement sector, instead of the small-time street pushers, the fight against illegal drugs would have already accomplished a lot by this time,” she added.

De Lima also said that the government should have placed its resources on pursuing high-value targets, instead of leading a crackdown on her.

“Unfortunately, so much valuable resources and time had been wasted on suspected small-time drug offenders, as well as in persecuting those who are against the summary execution of these suspects,” she noted. /cbb