President steps up attack on senator

ON THE EVE of a Senate inquiry, President Duterte defended his decision to reveal Sen. Leila de Lima’s clandestine love affair, alleging her purported lover and bagman was dealing with convicted drug lords who had continued to engage in the narcotics trade from the state penitentiary when she was former President Benigno Aquino III’s justice secretary.

“De Lima, farthest from my mind was to derogate your person. But I have to mention your relationship because it was your driver who was in contact with the rest of the guys there inside the prison,” Mr. Duterte said in a news conference before dawn yesterday in Davao City.

Without elaborating, Mr. Duterte said the driver, identified in media reports as Ronnie Palisoc Dayan, visited New Bilibid Prison (NBP) to make a deal with convicted leaders of notorious drug syndicates.

The President also revealed that a certain “Barlaan” was another De Lima “bagman” who allegedly allowed the manufacturing of “shabu,” or methamphetamine hydrocloride, in the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.

He was apparently referring to former Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan, who was then in charge of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

The President warned the personnel of the BuCor and the NBP who would refuse to cooperate with the parallel investigation of De Lima by his political allies in the House of Representatives.

“When we start to ask questions, you better tell us the truth or else I will charge you all—superintendents, wardens, supervisors—in a case of conspiracy to commit serious wrong,” he said.

 ‘Greed, immorality’

Stepping up his attack against his most vocal critic, the President said: “Eventually, Senator De Lima, it was your greed and immorality that did you in. You cannot hide it anymore. I think it’s beyond your control already.”

De Lima has said there are “snippets of truth” in some of Mr. Duterte’s allegations against her, but she has vehemently denied involvement in the illegal drug trade and that drug lords contributed to her campaign when she ran for senator in May.

President Duterte and Sen. Leila de Lima                         INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

She declined comment on Mr. Duterte’s latest blast, saying she had said enough.

In an advisory, De Lima’s office said today’s hearing would be from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Senate session hall.

“The joint public hearing will hear and receive testimonies from witnesses of extrajudicial killings and summary executions, reports of concerned government agencies on the spate of killings, position papers of resource persons, look into results of investigations of concerned agencies, and come up with initial conclusions and observations for legislative remedy,” it said.

Police ‘scalawags’

Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa, as well as relatives of those slain in questionable circumstances, are expected to face each other during the two-day hearing.

De Lima, who has spoken to the media four times since Duterte’s aired his allegations on Wednesday, said she would first call relatives of those killed in police antidrug operations and vigilante-style executions.

She said these witnesses would prove that police “scalawags” were behind the extrajudicial killings to erase their links to the illicit drug trade.

Human rights activists have denounced the summary executions that have claimed more than 1,000 lives since Mr. Duterte, who promised during the campaign that he would eliminate the drug menace in three to six months of his presidency, took office on June 30.

More killings before

While opposed to the inquiry, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Mr. Duterte’s defeated running mate, said he would attend the hearing.

“I want the police to hear loud and clear that even criminals have human rights. But I want them to hear that, 100 percent, the law, the President and the Senate are behind them in purging drugs,” Cayetano said by phone.

He said he would show official statistics proving that there were “even more killings every day” under the past administration.

“The issue is how to solve the drug war and at the same time respect human rights. Some forces are trying to redefine the issue and say we have a human rights problem in the country. And if you look at the facts and statistics, that is wrong,” he said.

Mr. Duterte said he called the early morning news conference to “disabuse the minds” of people, mostly women, who were howling in protest against his charges against De Lima, who he said gained popularity by making him a “whipping boy” in her human rights advocacy.

“The crux of the matter is, if I do not talk about that relationship … there is no topic to talk about,” he explained. “Because what is really very crucial there is the fact that the relationship with her driver … gave rise … to the corruption inside the national penitentiary.”

Mr. Duterte, who had boasted he had been a philanderer, said De Lima’s relationship with Dayan was “immoral because the driver has a family and wife.”

Parties at NBP

He claimed Dayan provided “special privileges” to moneyed prisoners at NBP, which was under De Lima’s supervision as justice secretary.

“There were guns there inside, there were parties being held almost every night, there was a combo (rock band). Liquor and alcoholic drinks flowed freely, and women went in and out of the prison,” the President said.

“If I do not mention the connect between the senator, who was then a secretary of justice, and her driver, how would I explain to the public the (reason) these things happened?” he added.

He said Dayan was the reason the “partying, drugs and even cooking shabu went unbridled (and) unhampered” when De Lima, who led several raids of the problematic state penitentiary, headed the justice department.

“Do you think that a driver … could have allowed these things all by himself?” he said. “All of these could have only happened if there was a go-signal from the head of the department, who is the secretary.”