Minority bucks House panel report, wants De Lima charged

The minority bloc in the House of Representatives on Thursday called for the criminal prosecution of Sen. Leila de Lima for her alleged role in the proliferation of the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) when she was justice secretary.

In a dissenting opinion to the House justice committee’s report that decided not to recommend charges against De Lima, the bloc led by Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said the committee missed an opportunity to exact accountability from a public official embroiled in a drug scandal.

In a press briefing, Suarez said the minority was recommending the filing of charges against De Lima for graft, bribery and violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Practices for Public Officials and of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

The justice committee had conducted an inquiry into the illegal drug trade in the national penitentiary back when De Lima was justice secretary in the Aquino administration from 2010 to 2015.

The panel heard several witnesses, including drug, kidnapping and robbery convicts at Bilibid, who testified under oath about De Lima’s alleged receipt of drug money from “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) sales purportedly to bankroll her senatorial campaign, although not one was able to directly tie her to the illegal activity.

The committee then released its report that appeared to conclude there was sufficient evidence against De Lima but did not recommend her or anyone else’s prosecution.

The House minority members said they did not agree with the report.

“The affidavits of several witnesses presented before the committee on justice are, in the view of the minority, sufficient to justify the filing of criminal charges against her,” the dissenting report read in part.

The minority said that while the affidavits and testimonies were insufficient to convict a person under the law, “they are fairly consistent in themselves and reflect a criminal design that should suffice for purposes of establishing probable cause.”

The minority said a recommendation to prosecute a public official by a House committee was neither an overreach of congressional jurisdiction nor an act of arrogating unto Congress the functions of the executive branch.

“It cannot in any way be taken as substituting its judgment for that of the Department of Justice, the very act of usurping the latter’s functions,” the group said.

The justice committee report was approved on the House floor on Oct. 19.

Another opposition leader, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, earlier scored the House leadership for “railroading” the approval of the committee report.