AN emotional Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Thursday bade goodbye to the Department of Justice (DOJ) with whom she has served for over five years, saying she will soon be venturing into a “new world.”
“I am already experiencing some kind of separation anxiety because I have been here for more than five years so leaving is not easy,” de Lima told reporters.
De Lima is expected to be part of the Liberal Party’s (LP) senatorial ticket which will be announced next week.
In her State of the Department Address (SODA), de Lima said: “I am proud to have served and fought for the Filipino people alongside all of you. I could not have wished for a more dedicated and professional corps of workers for justice, who will continue to do the work I will leave behind.”
“It is therefore with great hesitation that I will soon leave all of you as your Secretary,” she added.
In her speech, de Lima cited humble accomplishments of the DOJ under her wing.
Among the accomplishments she cited were the effort to deliver “real-time justice” during her five years in the department, which included an increase in case disposition rate from 75 percent in 2010 to 80 percent in 2014, and in prosecution rate from 68 percent in 2010 to 73 percent in 2014.
She also said the budget of DOJ for 2016 has a P54-million allocation for operational expenses and P48 million for additional support staff.
The DOJ chief also said that during her watch, the department has started releasing the retirement gratuity differentials of prosecutors who bowed from the service since 1992 to the present pursuant to Republic Act No. 10071 otherwise known as the Prosecution Service Act of 2010.
Another project done during her watch, de Lima said is the launching of the first biometric-triggered Inmate Management Information System in the Bureau of Corrections. She added that the groundwork for the transfer of the New Bilibid Prison and the Correctional Institute for Women to a state-of-the-art facility inside Fort Magsaysay in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija has been laid down.
De Lima said the National Bureau of Investigation, the DOJ’s investigative arm, has also modernized its system, citing as an example the bureau’s clearance system which now captures live biometric information of applicants.
At the Bureau of Immigration, another attached agency of the DOJ, de Lima said the Alien Registration Program is now in full swing to help beef up security measures to protect the country from unwanted foreigners while it is also developing eCounters in the country’s international airports to enhance border control measures.
De Lima also said that since the enactment of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, the DOJ and the NBI have secured 207 convictions involving 230 persons as of September 15, 2015 from the 29 convictions in 2010.
“All of these accomplishments were without challenges. There were times that we were pressured, cajoled and influenced into forsaking our convictions, but we persevered and stood our ground,” she said.
When mentioning about pressure, de Lima reminded the DOJ employees “not to be afraid from carrying our task” as she mentioned about a certain religious organization, referring to Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), which held a mass action on the same day she celebrated her birthday. The INC accused her of interfering with internal affairs of the Church.
“We have been pilloried before the public as violators of their freedom of religion, simply for doing our job. In standing our ground, we were only guided by these principles: equal protection of the law and justice for all,” she said.
De Lima said she was emotional not only because she will miss the people she has worked with for over five years but also because she misses her father who was always with her when she makes important decisions.
“Siya ang nagbigay ng gabay sa akin when I accepted the Commission on Human Rights post. Siya iyong nagbigay uli ng gabay sa akin when I accepted the DOJ post and now the next phase of my journey, bigla ko siyang na miss,” said de Lima. Asked if she thinks her father had already given him a sign, De Lima said: “I think so.”
In hinting of leaving the DOJ “soon,” de Lima said “justice offices and agencies must continue to work together to solve long-standing problems since the founding of the Republic.”
“As I turn over the reins to a new Secretary of Justice in a not so distant time, I fervently wish that he or she will carry on with the good works of justice that we have begun and sustain the good things that we have institutionalized,” de Lima said.
She said she has already recommended one name to the President who would replace her.