Alvarez denies House is acting like ‘kangaroo court’

Rep. Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez on Monday denied that the House of Representatives is acting like a “kangaroo court” by singling out Senator Leila De Lima for the proliferation of drugs in the National Bilibid Prison.

In an interview over DZMM, Alvarez gave this reaction to De Lima’s calling the House of Representatives a kangaroo court for its planned congressional probe in aid of legislation on the drug trade at the national penitentiary when De Lima was justice secretary.

READ: De Lima calls House probe ‘Duterte’s kangaroo court’ 

“The House conducting this inquiry to try me before false witnesses is not democracy. The House conducting this inquiry is Duterte’s kangaroo court conducting the Salem witch trials and burning me at the stake,” De Lima said.

“This is not democracy, this is an inquisition straight from the dark ages,” she added.

Alvarez said the House cannot act as a court to try De Lima because the courts fall under the judiciary branch, while Congress is under the legislative branch tasked to craft laws.

“Let me remind her, kasi may sinasabi siya sa diyaryo na yung Kongreso daw kangaroo court. Dapat mag-isip-isip muna siya sa mga sinasabi niya dahil tandaan niya na yung House of Representatives, yung Kongreso, including the Senate ay hindi po iyan korte,” Alvarez said.

READ: Alvarez calls for House probe on De Lima over drug problem

Alvarez said even a House committee conducting an investigation in aid of legislation has no prosecutorial powers to hold one on trial.

“Mayroon tayong separation of powers, mayroong judiciary, mayroong legislative, mayroong executive. Kami, we belong to the legislative branch. Hindi po kami puwedeng, we cannot act as if we are in the judiciary branch,” Alvarez said.

“Kami ay nagsasagawa lamang ng imbestigasyon in aid of legislation. We cannot usurp the powers of the judiciary. We do not even have prosecutorial function o prosecutorial power. Hindi po tama na sasabihin na kangaroo court iyan,” he added.

Alvarez said he also found it unfair that De Lima would call the House a kangaroo court in seeking to investigate the drug problem during her term, when De Lima was allowed to lead a Senate investigation into the spate of summary killings of drug suspects by rogue police at the height of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs.

READ: 756 who ‘resisted’ killed

He said the House committee investigation has an agenda of amending the law to prevent the drug trade in Bilibid, while De Lima’s probe of rogue policemen has no legislative intent of amending or making laws because penal laws already impose stiff penalties on summary killings.

“Kailangan po nating alamin ito, dahil serious concerns ito ng gobyerno. Bakit nagkaroon ng trading ng drugs doon sa loob ng presuhan mismo? Ano ang nangyari? Hindi ba kailangan alamin natin iyan? Gusto mo ipikit na lang natin yung mata natin kung bakit nangyari yung mga ganoong bagay na hindi naman dapat mangyari in the first place? So ano ang ano, wala bang definite agenda yung committee hearing na iyan, yung investigation na iyan?” Alvarez said.

He added that the Senate investigation on extrajudicial killing is a waste of time because the committee can only do as much as recommend the summary killings to preliminary investigation by the Department of Justice.

“Yung walang agenda, yung wala talagang totoong pakay in relation to a legislative purpose, yung kanyang ginagawang imbestigasyon doon sa Senado. Kasi yung kanyang imbestigasyon sa Senado, ang pakay lang, iimbistigahan yung summary execution. Ngayon, sige, tanungin ko siya, kung mapatunayan niya na mayroong summary execution, so what? Irereserba din niya yung kanyang fact-finding ..  sa Department of Justice iyan. Kasi wala naman siyang prosecutorial power,” Alvarez said.

“So pagdating sa Department of Justice, anong gagawin, magkakaroon ulit ng panibagong preliminary investigation to find out if there is in fact a probable cause that would warrant the filing of the criminal charges. Yun. So ano, nagsayang ka ng panahon,” he added.

Alvarez authored House Resolution 105 which pushed for investigation into the drugs problem at the national penitentiary, where makeshift shabu laboratories were set up and drug lords lived in luxury, when De Lima was justice secretary.

But to De Lima’s credit, she led a series of raids in the Bilibid that exposed drug lords’ luxurious lifestyles while behind bars.

READ: House leaders urge probe of drugs at Bilibid during De Lima term | Drug lords rule New Bilibid Prison

Alvarez had said even De Lima’s former driver and alleged lover Ronnie Dayan, who Duterte claimed collected drug pay offs for her from NBP, may be invited to testify in the committee hearing.

READ: DOJ witnesses vs De Lima invited to House drug probe–Alvarez

Duterte recently released a drug matrix showing De Lima’s alleged connection to the NBP drug trade. Aside from her, former Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan and former governor and now Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino were in the template.

READ: Duterte matrix out; tags De Lima, ex-Pangasinan gov, others | Duterte slams De Lima, says lover collected drug payoffs for her

Alvarez has rallied the majority coalition to support the investigation. But critics said he turned a blind eye on the resolution seeking to look into the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects amid Duterte’s war on drugs./rga

READ: Alvarez won’t back probe into killings

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