De Lima, Benhur Luy to attend Thursday’s Senate pork barrel hearing

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima (right) and principal whistle-blower Benhur Luy INQUIRER.NET File Photo

MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said on Wednesday, she would attend Thursday’s Senate blue ribbon committee hearing on the pork barrel scam along with some of the whistle-blowers, as she did not want to stir a constitutional crisis.

But De Lima said she intended to raise again the propriety of the whistle-blowers testifying at the hearing when cases have been filed in the Office of the Ombudsman against Janet Lim-Napoles, lawmakers and government officials, and the investigation of the participation of others was still ongoing.

Emerging from a meeting with lawyers of the whistle-blowers and the National Bureau of Investigation in preparation for the Senate hearing, De Lima told reporters thatd they had “no choice’’ but to attend so as to abide by the subpoena.

She said though that it would be impossible to bring all of the 14 of the 16 whistle-blowers involved in the Napoles case. Principal whistle-blower Benhur Luy would be among those attending on Thursday, she said. One witness has returned overseas to work while another went back home in the province.

The justice secretary said the other whistle-blowers were not willing to attend because they were scared to do so as they had not expected to testify at a Senate hearing. They were expecting to testify only in the Office of the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan.

‘No conflict’

Before the start of the hearing, De Lima said she would raise questions about the attendance of the whistle-blowers at this time, whether this was going to be a full-blown trial and the general direction of the inquiry.

But she acknowledged that she did not want to make a big issue out of this.

“I don’t want to create a constitutional issue, let alone a constitutional crisis where there will be a clash of two seemingly conflicting jurisdictions although I don’t think there is a conflict there. It’s just a matter of balancing things out. It’s just a matter of understanding each other’s perspectives,” she said.

De Lima said she also did not want the cases to be sidetracked or diverted.

The justice secretary said she would question why the Senate immediately issued a subpoena for the whistle-blowers while it decided to ask the comment of the Ombudsman before it issued a subpoena for Napoles.

De Lima said she would also invoke the same provisions that Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales cited in not allowing Napoles to testify in the Senate.

“Isn’t that the same grounds that I pointed out (in Tuesday’s hearing), particularly as to whether publicity of a pending case before the Ombudsman will prejudice or would tend to prejudice the safety of the witnesses or the disposition of the case?” she said.

De Lima said her position was misunderstood by the Senate when she first raised that issue.

She said all she wanted was the “successful prosecution” of those charged with misusing the pork barrel funds of lawmakers.

“I want to preserve the proceedings before the Ombudsman. I want to protect the whistle-blowers and witnesses,’’ she said.