Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Wednesday night scored the House of Representatives justice committee, saying it allowed itself to be used by the administration in launching a shame campaign against Sen. Leila de Lima.
Lagman made this statement during a manifestation after the House in the plenary session adopted the justice committee report concluding the investigation in aid of legislation on the proliferation of drugs at the New Bilibid Prison.
READ: House justice body: Bilibid drugs flourished under De Lima’s watch
“There is credence to the accusation that the committee on justice allowed itself to be used by the executive department, through the Department of Justice, in embarking on a malevolent odyssey for shaming and vilifying Senator De Lima,” Lagman said in defending De Lima, his party mate at the Liberal Party.
Lagman opposed the committee report but raised it only after the House adopted it.
He said the report was “an exercise in futility” because the justice committee under the House rules had no jurisdiction to investigate alleged wrongdoing in public office, adding only the committee on good government and public accountability had that authority.
Lagman said the committee should not have recommended any findings into allegations De Lima raised campaign funds in the Bilibid drug trade because it had no authority to make such recommendation.
“There was no necessity to these findings because in the first place, the committee has no jurisdiction to investigate malfeasance. It has no authority to investigate on the allegation that Senator De Lima received drug money,” Lagman said.
“This is completely off-tangent, irrelevant and impertinent,” he added.
For his part, minority floor leader Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said the bloc in opposing the report would make its parallel report recommending criminal charges against De Lima.
READ: Congress urged to recommend raps vs De Lima over Bilibid drug trade
“The minority’s position is we are not going to support the committee report, as we believe there should be a closure … There should be a recommendation on what should be done,” Suarez said.
In its report, the House of Representatives justice committee said it was able to establish that the illicit drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) flourished under the watch of then justice secretary and now Senator De Lima.
The committee said “the investigation has clearly established the proliferation of drug syndicates and illegal drug trade in the NBP during the watch of then DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima.”
The committee released its report in concluding its grueling inquiry into the proliferation of drugs at the Bilibid, which took 47 hours divided in four days.
All the witnesses, who were convicts and inmates at the Bilibid, pointed at De Lima’s involvement in the proliferation of drugs at the national penitentiary.
De Lima was the subject of the House inquiry after she crossed swords with President Rodrigo Duterte, whom she investigated at the Senate for alleged links to the extrajudicial killings of drug criminals and the vigilante death squad in Davao City.