House mulls over arrest of De Lima
HouseMajority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas: Sen. Leila de Lima displayed utter disrespect for parliamentary proceedings. INQUIRER PHOTO
In an unprecedented move, the House of Representatives is poised to issue an arrest warrant against Sen. Leila de Lima if she ignores a show-cause order asking her to explain why she had discouraged her driver and lover, Ronnie Dayan, to ignore summons to appear in its investigation of the illegal drug trade in New Bilibid Prison.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III were set to meet on Monday evening at the behest of Sen. Panfilo Lacson in a bid to defuse the controversy, but De Lima was adamant she would defy the House committee on justice.
“Whatever is their plan, whether it is a show-cause, whether it is arrest, whether it is an ethics complaint, whether it is a case with the regular courts, or a case with the Supreme Court … I will not face them,” De Lima said on Monday. “I will not honor that show-cause order.”
First time in recent history
In a briefing, Alvarez said this was the first time in recent history that a senator had interfered in the proceedings of the House.
“There has never been a stupid senator who advised a House witness to go into hiding,” he said.
He said that ordering De Lima’s arrest would not breach the principle of “interchamber courtesy,” since “she acted not in her capacity as senator.”
“That is my theory, because the Senate will not allow any member to interfere with the proceedings of a coequal body,” he said.
Alvarez said De Lima needed to explain her supposed action or deny it under oath.
‘No collision course’
He shrugged off claims the House was heading on a collision course with the Senate over its actions against De Lima. “Not really. That’s a small matter. Nobody’s clashing,” he said.
He reiterated that it was De Lima who first breached interchamber courtesy, not the House.
House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, in a separate briefing, said De Lima displayed “utter disrespect” for parliamentary proceedings.
The House is considering three possible legal actions it may pursue against De Lima, he said, “to avoid a clash between the chambers.”
One would be to file a criminal case in a Regional Trial Court for obstruction of justice.
Another option would be to file an administrative case in the Supreme Court, which may lead to disbarment, among other sanctions.
The third and most likely option would be to pursue a complaint on the Senate’s ethics committee “for disorderly behavior.” The body would have the power to suspend or even unseat De Lima.
“Cumulative, it may be even done all at the same time. Most probably, we will do that,” Fariñas said. “We’re not penalizing her for her acts as a senator, but as a violation of contempt.”
Viber message
Pimentel last week told the House to “do your thing first before you ask us to do something.”
The issue arose from Dayan’s claim that De Lima, through a Viber message to his daughter, advised him to “just hide for now [because] it’s all the doing of Speaker Alvarez at the order of Digong [President Duterte].”
“The President has nothing to do with this. And I did not plan this,” Alvarez said. “If she thinks we violated something, the courts are wide open.”
While in session, senators are immune from suit if the penalty for the crime alleged is punishable by not more than six years imprisonment, Pimentel told reporters on Monday.
He said the penalty for obstruction of justice was below six years.
Still, there may be a venue now for the House complaint against De Lima and this was through the Senate ethics committee, which received on Monday a supplemental complaint from lawyer Abelardo de Jesus who had earlier filed a complaint against her regarding her alleged involvement in the proliferation of the drug trade inside New Bilibid Prison.
