De Lima welcomes Ombudsman probe

Sen. Leila de Lima —INQUIRER PHOTO

Embattled Sen. Leila de Lima on Saturday welcomed the Ombudsman’s fact-finding investigation into the drug allegations against her, saying it would give her an opportunity to clear her name.

In a statement Saturday night, De Lima said it was part of the Ombudsman’s mandate to investigate accusations against public officers.

“The Ombudsman’s decision to conduct a fact-finding investigation on the various allegations concerning the drug trade, including those that attempt to link me to said trade in the most absurd contexts, is only expected,” De Lima said.

“To investigate such matters is the constitutional mandate of the Ombudsman. The public, including me, expects no less from the Ombudsman, especially Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who has time and again proven her competence, impartiality and capability to live up to our expectations insofar as making public officers accountable to the public is concerned,” she said.

Morales said Friday night that she had given due course to a complaint on De Lima’s alleged involvement in the drug trade, citing some “leads.”

Several witnesses, including high-profile inmates at the national penitentiary and confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, had claimed that De Lima collected drug money through her former driver and lover Ronnie Dayan to raise funds for her May electoral bid.

Dayan had also testified to purportedly taking bags of cash from Espinosa on De Lima’s behalf. Several legislators have, however, noted inconsistencies between Dayan’s and Espinosa’s testimonies, particularly on the circumstances of their purported meetings.

De Lima, who President Rodrigo Duterte first tagged in the drug trade in August, has repeatedly denied the allegations, calling it a “script” put together by the administration to destroy her name.

In her statement, De Lima expressed trust in the probity of the Ombudsman.

“As one of the guarantees of the Constitution to assure accountability of public officers, I welcome the Ombudsman investigation, both as a regular undertaking of said office and as an opportunity for me to clear my record of any allegations of wrongdoing,” De Lima said.

“After all, at present, the Ombudsman is the most trusted and respected investigation office of the government, after both the DOJ and the NBI have proven themselves to be nothing more than instruments of the present administration against vocal dissenters to the President, such as myself,” she said.

She said the Ombudsman should take “primary jurisdiction” over cases against her related to the drug allegations, instead of the Department of Justice, an agency headed by one of her chief accusers, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II.

“It is about time that the Ombudsman assert its primary jurisdiction over my case, and oust the DOJ of any authority to take over cases cognizable by the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan, especially in this instance where the DOJ has shown its lack of objectivity and interest in pursuing the truth,” she said.

The DOJ is handling drug and graft complaints separately filed against her by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and inmate Jaybee Sebastian, among witnesses who testified against her at the House justice committee inquiry into the drug trade at the New Bilibid Prisons.