De Lima ‘hurt’ by colleagues’ doubts over alleged drug ties

Sen. Leila De Lima. MARIANNE BERMUDEZ/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Senator Leila de Lima on Wednesday admitted being “hurt” that some of her colleagues in the Senate have expressed doubts over her alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

To remove these doubts and answer questions about her alleged drug links, De Lima said she would furnish all senators an outline of her initiatives and accomplishments against illegal drugs.

She said she was not only prepared to answer the complaint filed against her before the Senate ethics committee but all other issues that would be raised against her, including insinuations by some of her peers that she had not done anything against illegal drugs when she was the Secretary of Justice during the past administration.

“I’m prepared to explain myself to my peers doon sa issue na yan at kahit ano pang issue na i-bring up nila (about that issue and whatever issue they might bring up), especially that some members of the Senate are having insinuations about me not having done enough as Secretary of Justice and worse about my being complicit in the illegal drug trade,” De Lima said in an interview in her office when asked how she was preparing for the ethics case against her.

The complaint filed by leaders of the House of Representatives stemmed from De Lima’s alleged advice to her former aide and partner Ronnie Dayan not to attend its probe on the alleged proliferation of illegal drugs at the New Blibid Prison (NBP) during her stint as Justice Secretary.

“Yun ang nakakasakit dun e, mismong mga kasamahan ko may mga nagdududa o may mga naniniwala sa mga kasinungalingan ng iba (It’s what hurt me, my colleagues are expressing doubts or they are believing the lies of others),” she said.

Asked if she was particularly referring to Senator Grace Poe, De Lima refused to give an answer, saying that she would just come out with a report.

Poe earlier pointed out how illegal drugs “flourished” not only in the NBP but also in other parts of the country when De Lima was still head of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“It’s quite tough for her to be able to take a case against some of the allegations but let’s give her a chance. I don’t want to pass judgment right away,” she said in a television interview last December 20.

“But as I said, it was during her time when she was DOJ secretary that a lot of these drug problems actually flourished so at least for that particular issue she has to be able to explain why that was so,” Poe said.

READ: Poe to De Lima: Explain why drug trade boomed during term at DOJ

But De Lima also noted how the present administration has been pinning the blame on the past leadership, particularly on her as if she said she was the “singular official responsible” for the enforcement of all anti-drug laws.

“Sa akin lahat bini-blame without knowing the facts, sana man lang nag re-research din sila. Ano ba ang nagawa ko bilang Secretary of Justice? Marami din naman po akong nagawa bilang (They are all pinning the blame on me without knowing the facts, they could have done some research. What did I do as a Secretary of Justice? I have done many things as a) Secretary of Justice in the anti-drug area. That’s why I’ll be issuing that sort of that report… and I’d wish to furnish all members of the Senate with a copy of that,” she said. RAM