Standing pat against the House of Representatives, Sen. Leila de Lima on Tuesday said she would leave it up to the Senate to act on the show-cause order issued against her by the lower chamber.
De Lima said she had not received the order but reiterated her earlier statement that she would not honor it.
“I will not be honoring that. I’m not honoring any process or notice from the House committee because I’m not recognizing the jurisdiction of that House committee over me,” she said in an interview at the Senate.
READ: Show-cause order vs De Lima served to Senate
She was referring to the House justice committee investigating the alleged proliferation of illegal drugs at the New Bilibid Prison when she was still justice secretary.
“If I receive that I will just refer it to the Senate through the Senate President. That is my plan,” she said.
“I’m going to refer that through the Senate President for appropriate action, if there’s such an action that will be coming from the Senate as an institution, kasi kailangan ko lang hong maging consistent sa position ko, sa aking pananaw, na mula’t sapul pa mula ng nagsimula yang House inquiry na ’yan, hindi ko na po ’yan kinikilala (because I have to be consistent in my position, in my view from the start, since that House inquiry began, that I’m not recognizing it).”
As a senator, De Lima said the House had no jurisdiction over her.
“Hindi ko talaga ino-honor (I’m really not honoring it). I’m willing to accept the consequences. I’m willing to live with consequences of this act of defiance on my part,” she said.
Told about that the House is planning to file an ethics complaint against her should she refuse to comply with the order, De Lima welcomed such move, saying it was the right process since the Senate had jurisdiction over her.
The House has given De Lima 72 hours to reply to the order, which stemmed from her advice to her former aide, Ronnie Dayan, not to attend its probe.
But the senator said she was standing by her advice to Dayan, who she said had the same sentiments against the House probe.
“As said, I stand by that advice. It was a sound and sincere advice on my part,” she said.
De Lima recalled her last phone conversation with Dayan sometime in August this year where she said her former driver was crying, afraid for his life, telling her he did not want to tell lies./rga
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