DOJ investigators got Gatdula side, says De Lima

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Monday said Magtanggol Gatdula lied when he claimed that he was not given a chance to defend himself before he was fired by President Benigno Aquino III as National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director over the abduction of an undocumented Japanese woman by unauthorized NBI agents.

De Lima vehemently denied Gatdula’s insinuation that he was sacked from his post because of politics and to give way for the “ambition” of an undersecretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ) who supposedly wants to take his place.

“Kung masama ang loob niya, mas masama ang loob ko (If he feels hurt, I am more hurt than he is),” De Lima said in a text message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “It’s quite unfair and reckless to be imputing ill motives on the part of the (investigating) panel and even on my part.”

She said the DOJ investigating panel, headed by Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, “just did its job in ferreting out the truth” when it recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against Gatdula and other NBI officials in connection with the abduction of Noriyo Ohara on Oct. 29, 2011.

Inquirer columnist Ramon Tulfo exposed last December 3 the abduction of Ohara by NBI agents.

The Baraan panel found that the NBI agents had collected P6 million out of the P15 million they had demanded from the Marzan family, the woman’s foster family in Pangasinan province. The Marzans were threatened with criminal prosecution for harboring an illegal alien.

The DOJ said Gatdula appeared to have participated in the planning of the abduction and in the cover-up following Tulfo’s exposé.

In interviews with television networks last week, Gatdula lamented that he was not afforded due process to prove his innocence regarding allegations that he had a role in the abduction of Ohara.

De Lima pointed out that she herself sent a memorandum to Gatdula ordering him to explain why he did not comply with her verbal instruction to transfer Ohara from the NBI custody to the Bureau of Immigration.

“But he didn’t take that memorandum seriously. In any case, he will be given a further chance to air his side and present defenses in the  preliminary investigation and administrative proceedings,” the justice secretary said.

De Lima said Gatdula was not forthright in saying that he was denied due process. “He was invited by the panel and testified before the panel. The proceedings were duly recorded via TSNs (transcript of stenographic notes).”

Journalists covering the justice beat saw Gatdula at least twice when he appeared before the Baraan panel which held its closed-door hearings at the DOJ office in Manila.

The DOJ panel was able to establish a motive in the abduction of Ohara, who arrived in  Manila in June 2009 without passing through immigration authorities.

Huge inheritance

Quoting Chief Consul Keiki Endo of the Japanese Embassy, the panel said that Ohara’s father had left her with a huge inheritance and that her father’s creditors and the Japanese government, which wanted to collect an inheritance tax, were after her. This explained her flight to the Philippines, the panel said.

Reports that Ohara’s father was killed by the Yakuza appeared not to be true, according to the panel.

De Lima said the President decided to replace Gatdula for insubordination and for lack of trust because the former NBI chief had failed to turn over Ohara to the immigration bureau.

De Lima said she would appoint today an officer in charge of the NBI pending Mr. Aquino’s appointment of Gatdula’s successor.

“We’re just about to start the vetting process for Gatdula’s replacement. (We) will come up with a short list to be submitted to the President,” she said.