VACC: De Lima changed stance on Ombudsman jurisdiction over cases

Sen. Leila De Lima. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Senator Leila de Lima’s position that the Office of the Ombudsman has the sole authority and exclusive jurisdiction to handle the criminal cases filed against her is contrary to her position in 2012, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said Friday.

In asking the DOJ to deny De Lima’s motion for the inhibition of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre and the panel of prosecutors handling the cases against her, VACC said De Lima’s position changed on the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction after being at the receiving end of various anti-drug complaints.

The antigraft group pointed to a memorandum of agreement dated March 20, 2012 signed by then Secretary of Justice De Lima and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales stating that both agencies shall have concurrent jurisdiction over complaints for crimes involving public officers and employees falling outside the exclusive jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan.

The same agreement stated that “the office where such a complaint is filed for preliminary investigation shall acquire jurisdiction over the complaint to the exclusion of the other [office].”

De Lima is facing four criminal complaints over the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) drug trade mess.

The senator said it would be best to refer these four cases to the Office of the Ombudsman which she maintained not only has the exclusive authority and sole jurisdiction but also the impartiality to investigate the charges against her.

The four drug complaints were filed by the crime watchdog group VACC, former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) deputy directors Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Lasala, high-profile inmate Jaybee Sebastian, and the NBI.

VACC added that in relation to the MOA, Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 provides that the Department of Justice (DOJ) shall designate prosecutors to exclusively handle these cases. The same law provides that the Regional Trial Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to try cases for violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

“Considering that the complaints were filed before the DOJ, the Office of the Ombudsman has no more jurisdiction over the instant cases,” said VACC.

“Thus, to grant the Omnibus Motion of the Respondent is to violate the very MOA that she signed in her capacity as Secretary of Justice,” VACC added.

The DOJ panel of prosecutors led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong already started the preliminary investigation of the complaints filed against the senator and several others.

Aguirre, on the other hand,  said he inhibited from the case even before De Lima filed the motion. JE/rga