Housing developer Delfin Lee INQUIRER CENTRAL LUZON FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–A housing official sent by Vice President Jejomar Binay at the Philippine National Police headquarters to make sure Delfin Lee would be detained said Sunday that the police considered releasing Lee following his arrest last week.
Assistant Secretary Daniel Subido, Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council (HUDCC) deputy secretary general, revealed that the police had to be reassured of the legality of the warrant of arrest they served on Lee.
This, he said in his report to Binay, who also chairs the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig) board of trustees.
“It is incredulous for the Philippine National Police (PNP) to even consider releasing an apprehended accused based on the mere representations of the latter’s lawyer on the purported invalidity of the Warrant of Arrest,” Subido said.
“Clearly, there must have been influential people that worked on the actual delisting of Mr. Lee from the Warrant of Arrest Information System and pressured the PNP to cause Mr. Lee’s release despite the existence of a valid Warrant of Arrest,” he added.
After Binay received reports that “certain influential people” tried blocking Lee’s arrest on Mar. 6, he sent Subido to Camp Crame.
Subido said he was sent to PNP headquarters by Binay “to ensure that the rule of law be applied and the proper procedure be followed on the arrest and detention” of the Globe Asiatique president.
“When I arrived (at) Camp Crame, I was surprised that PNP officers were discussing the validity of Mr. Lee’s arrest based on the mere representations made and documents presented by his lawyer,” Subido recalled in his report.
“According to the PNP officers, the lawyer of Mr. Lee presented documents that show that the Warrant of Arrest against Mr. Lee has allegedly been quashed, recalled and lifted, and that the PNP was purportedly enjoined from implementing said warrant of arrest,” he added.
Subido said he had to “explain and reassure” the PNP that the arrest warrant against Lee was valid and existing because only the Regional Trial Court of Pampanga, which issued the warrant, could quash, recall, or lift the arrest warrant.
“In fact, it was confirmed to me by Senior Superintendent Conrad Capa, the head of Task Force Tugis, that the task force verified with the Regional Trial Court of Pampanga that the Warrant of Arrest against Mr. Lee was still valid and existing despite the ruling of the Court of Appeals dated Nov. 7, 2013 which purportedly quashed, recalled, and lifted the Warrant of Arrest against Mr. Lee,” Subido said.
Barely a week after Lee’s arrest, Capa was relieved from his post as the chair of the task force responsible to Lee’s arrest and was reassigned to Central Visayas Police Regional Office.
Director General Alan Purisima, PNP chief, however, denied that Capa was relieved and insisted that it was a “stepping stone for his promotion as one-star general.”
Subido recommended that Pag-ibig fund formally commend Capa and Task Force Tugis for their “integrity and fortitude in apprehending and detaining Mr. Lee despite the pressure received from influential people.”
Subido said the events that occurred immediately after the arrest of Lee prove that certain influential people were pressuring the PNP to release the real estate developer.
“The circumstances that transpired immediately after the arrest of Mr. Lee coupled by the certification, memo and letters showing the delisting of Mr. Lee from the database of outstanding arrest warrants and ordering to enjoin the implementation of the arrest warrant against him previously issued by the PNP only show that influential people indeed pressured the PNP to favor Mr. Lee,” he said.
The HUDCC chair also stressed that only the court and not the PNP is authorized to decide on the arrest warrant’s validity.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld Lee’s warrant of arrest, junking the order of CA to quash his arrest warrant.
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