Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre before the Congressional hearing and inquiry on illegal drug trade in National Bilibid Prison, October 10, 2016.NIÑO JESUS ORBETA/Philippine Daily Inquirer
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre on Tuesday maintained that the recently concluded congressional inquiry into drug proliferation in the national penitentiary was not aimed at harassing or silencing Sen. Leila de Lima, the staunchest critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.
In an INQ&A interview, Aguirre said there was never an instance that he and the President talked about the probe into the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison except when they flew to Vietnam for Duterte’s working visit last month. Aguirre was part of the official delegation.
“Sa totoo lang except when we were in Vietnam, hindi naming napag-usapan ito. Nagkatabi lang kami sa eroplano, tinanong niya ako, Vita no ba itong 300 million na hindi inaccount ng mga nag-raid sa Bilibid noong 2014,” Aguirre said.
“Kailanman hindi namin napag-usapan ito,” he emphasized.
Asked about the stand of minority lawmakers, Aguirre said it was not true that attacking De Lima was the lone focus of the House probe, which he said was primarily aimed to curb the drug trade and clean up the prison facility.
“Walang katotohanan. Mina-mouth lang nila yung sinasbi ni De Lima na pang harass lang ito sa kanya pero di sya nagbibigay ng dahilan kung bakit hindi ito dapat paniwalaan,” he said.
“Dapat magsabi s’ya, na binibintang sa kanya na bilang protector, ano bang ginawa mo during that time ikaw ba ay nagpatupad ng ganito,” Aguirre said, noting that the 2014 raid in the Bilibid was a “fake” one supposedly to “pre-empt” an operation by the Crime Investigation and Detection Group to isolate high profile-inmates.
Asked if he was willing to put his license to practice law on the line, Aguirre said he was not one to manufacture evidence.
“I will never manufacture evidence. I’ve been practicing for so long and maraming nag ooffer but I could never be part of that,” he said.
De Lima and several others were charged with illegal drugs case on Tuesday, or a day after the Department of Justice issued a lookout bulletin against her and the House probe ended.