De Lima: Binay, his men have said everything except the truth

MANILA, Philippines—If he has nothing to hide, Vice President Jejomar Binay should welcome the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation with open arms, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Friday.

In her speech at the 5th MCLE Accredited National Convention for Public Attorneys at the Manila Hotel, De Lima said: “Rather than question the Department’s jurisdiction and priorities, the Vice President should instead directly confront the allegations on the systemic corruption of Makati’s procurement system.”

Lawyer JV Bautista, interim secretary general of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), said the DOJ has no jurisdiction to conduct an investigation and by doing so, De Lima is courting a lawsuit for her “abusive and unlawful acts”.

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

“The Vice President’s men, with all the resources at their command, have only one thing to worry about: to clear their principal from all the accusations leveled against him,” De Lima said.

She said Binay’s men have said everything except one and that is the truth.

“They are expected to do only one thing-to clear the name of the Vice-President and we ask, can they prove that all the witnesses of the Vice President are lying? We are not seeing that. If they are not able to do that, they should not take out their frustration on the DOJ. They should not tell us how to do our job,” De Lima added.

“As I said before, and I say again now, this is all part of our job. There is only one DOJ. No other agency in the entire government bureaucracy is expected to do our work for us. During those times when our motives or persuasions are questioned and challenged, like now, our only answer is a clear conscience and the moral conviction to do the right thing and give justice to every person,” De Lima said.

The National Bureau of Investigation has created a five-member team to conduct the fact finding investigation. De Lima said there would be no recommendation or a transmittal letter but every finding and evidence gathered would be forwarded to the Ombudsman for evaluation.

She said the Ombudsman has the power to determine whether Binay has committed an impeachable offense.

De Lima added that Binay was not immune to investigation and the DOJ’s fact finding probe was not only focused on Binay but to his family who has no immunity, private contractors and all Makati and Commission on Audit Officials.

De Lima said the right thing for the Vice President to do would be “to the bottom of things because we owe it to the public”.

“The issue still is and will remain, whether or not the accusations of systemic corruption in Makati and the amassing of ill-gotten wealth are true.”

Binay is accused of pocketing kickbacks for the overpriced parking building and owning hundreds of hectares of land in Batangas which includes an airconditioned piggery.

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