House panel chair vows to be fair to De Lima in probe

Senator Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

The chairperson of the House of Representatives justice committee on Monday vowed to be fair to Senator Leila De Lima in the congressional probe over the alleged New Bilibid Prison drug trade.

In an interview, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali said he had to make a disclosure to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez that De Lima was his sister in the Lambda Rho Sigma sorority. Umali is a member of the Lambda Rho Beta fraternity.

“Let us just stick to the issues. Mayroon nga akong full disclosure kay Speaker. Sabi ko nga before the resolution was referred to me, sabi ko: ‘Mr. Speaker, sis ko ho si Leila sa sorority,’ (I had a full disclosure to the Speaker. I told him before the resolution was referred to me, ‘Mr. Speaker, Leila was my sister in our sorority’)” Umali said.

Umali said the House leadership must have forwarded the resolution to the justice committee which he chairs because Alvarez trusts his fairness in handling the inquiry.

“Siguro naniniwala sila sa aking objectivity…. Siguro gustong ipakita ni Speaker na this is not about her (I think they belive in my objectivity… I think the Speaker wants to show that this is not about her). This is about the issue on proliferation of drug syndicates in the New Bilibid Prison. And it just so happened that when this issue came out in the open, she was the secretary of justice at the time,” Umali said.

Umali vowed to lead the committee while being fair to De Lima, who is the main subject of the House inquiry in aid of legislation for allegedly receiving drug kickbacks from the Bilibid drug trade when she was justice secretary.

Umali was a partymate of De Lima in the Liberal Party during the previous 16th Congress before he jumped to President Duterte’s party Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan in the 17th Congress.

Umali is also the brother of Liberal Party treasurer Alfonso Umali.

“For my part, I will try to be as fair and objective as possible. We will give everyone his due. And hopefully, ang taumbayan, kayo naman makikita kung hindi ito fair, I would expect na you give me your feedback on that,” Umali said.

“I really would want this investigation to be conducted in a manner that would be fair to all,” he added.

Umali said the House investigation would be scheduled tomorrow and the next day on Wednesday to accommodate the more than 30 witnesses to be presented by the Department of Justice.

Umali said the hearing would resume on November, because the House would be busy next week with plenary debates on the proposed 2017 budget or the General Appropriations Act.

The House investigation into the alleged Bilibid drug trade was prompted by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s House Resolution 105 which sought an investigation into the proliferation of drug syndicates at the New Bilibid Prison during the term of De Lima as justice secretary. Alvarez is a close ally of the president.

READ: De Lima in for a surprise, Alvarez says of House Bilibid probe | No ‘moro-moro’ in House probe of Bilibid drug trade — solons 

House leaders denied that the congressional probe would be a scripted demolition job against De Lima as a reprisal for her investigation on extrajudicial killings.

Last week, De Lima presented professed hitman Edgar Matobato as a witness who testified that he acted upon the orders of President Duterte to kill the latter’s critics and rivals when he was Davao City mayor.

READ: SUMMARY: Allegations of ‘DDS’ member in Senate hearing | ‘Duterte ordered us to kill’

President Duterte had tagged De Lima in a drug matrix and accused her of earning from the Bilibid drug trade, an allegation De Lima had vehemently denied.

READ: Duterte matrix out; tags De Lima, ex-Pangasinan gov, others | De Lima calls matrix linking her to drugs trade ‘rubbish’

De Lima as a former human rights commissioner had also investigated Duterte when he was Davao City mayor for his links to the Davao Death Squad, allegedly responsible for the vigilante killings of suspected criminals in Davao City.

Aguirre has named robbery and drug dealer convict Herbert Colangco and National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Rafael Ragos as among the high-ranking witnesses to testify against De Lima.

READ: Inmate Colangco to testify vs De Lima in House drug probe | NBI deputy director to testify vs De Lima — Aguirre 

De Lima has refused to attend or send a representative in what she called a sham probe. JE