Sen. Leila de Lima INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON
Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday backed Senator Leila de Lima’s request for a safe and secure detention cell should she get arrested on drug charges but warned that she might end up being detained side by side with two former senators charged in the pork barrel scam.
If former Senators Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. have been locked up at Camp Crame’s detention cells, then Lacson saw no reason why an incumbent senator like De Lima should not be given the same accommodation.
“Ngayong hindi sila senador naroon pa sila. Lalo ang sitting senator,” Lacson said in an interview at the Senate.
Estrada and Revilla, along with former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, have been charged with plunder for alleged misuse of their pork barrel funds when De Lima was still the Justice Secretary. In 2015, Enrile was allowed by the court to post bail.
“Ang irony, baka magkakatabi sila ni Senator Bong at Jinggoy. Remember meron pang bakanteng bungalow roon. I’m just thinking aloud na baka doon siya ilagay dahil secure ang lugar. Yun naman ang hinihingi niya, ’di ba?” Lacson said.
“Parang paradox, ’di ba? Na siya (De Lima) ang parang primary, hindi naman naging kasangkapan for lack of a better word, reason kung bakit nakulong (sina Estrada at Revilla) kasi siya nag-start ng investigation di ba? Silang tatlo ng COA (Commission on Audit) at Ombudsman,” he pointed out.
Asked about the possibility of the Senate providing custody for De Lima, Lacson said it would be “unprecedented” since no such request was made on the case of Estrada and Revilla.
“At wala kaming facilities except siguro sa Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms. Depende sa consensus ng mga senador at kung papayagan ng judge, assuming ma-issue-han siya ng warrant,” he said.
While she has expressed her readiness to be get arrested and jailed, De Lima said her only request is that she would be placed in a safe and secure detention cell.
“Ang pakiusap ko lang po, sakaling mangyari na, God-forbid, yung eventuality na yan, ay sana ilagay naman ako sa isang lugar na magiging safe and secure ako. Marami na ho ang nangyayari, di ba? Pinapatay din sa loob ng selda. So, what is another EJK (extrajudicial killing)?” the lady senator said early Tuesday./rga