De Lima tags Duterte admin in junked graft, terror raps at Ombudsman

Senator Leila de Lima sees the hand of Malacañang in the graft and terrorism complaint that has been recently dismissed by the Office of the Ombudsman for lack of evidence.

De Lima said that the complaint filed against her contain “baseless allegations” that she aided in freeing suspected “high-value” Abu Sayyaf terrorists.

According to De Lima, the Ombudsman’s dismissal of the case only validates her “strong and unwavering conviction” that the Duterte administration was responsible for all the “proxy complaints” hurled against her.

“These graft and terrorism cases are just among the many trumped-up cases filed against me, which are, indisputably, an attempt by the Duterte administration to persecute me,” De Lima said in a statement.

De Lima said that the dismissed graft and terrorism complaint at the Ombudsman was filed “around the same time the illegal drug trading charges were (filed against her) by personalities closely identified with the Duterte Administration.”

“The people behind the complaint counted on the possibility that the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations would easily be accepted by the Ombudsman for the President’s fanatics to feast upon afterwards—but the Ombudsman proved them wrong,” the senator added.

READ: Ombudsman clears De Lima, et al. of terror, graft raps

De Lima continued to liken the dismissed complaint to all “trumped-up drug charges” filed against her by “the vindictive Duterte regime,” even describing it as “outrageous and downright fake.”

“Wala itong pagkakaiba sa iba pang imbentong kaso laban sa akin ng rehimeng Duterte. Malinaw na batay lamang ito sa kasinungalingan—sa kagustuhan nilang patahimikin ako sa aking mga ipinaglalaban at sirain ang aking pangalan at integridad,” she stressed.

Moreover, the senator noted that among those who filed criminal complaints against her have since been appointed to high government positions.

De Lima then cited the appointments of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) head Dante Jimenez, who is now chairman of the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission; and Sandra Cam, who is now a board member of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

In a resolution dated January 16, the Office of the Ombudsman absolved De Lima and several others in the complaint filed by human rights activists Temogen Tulawi and Abner Salahi Tahil in 2016.

De Lima’s defense asserted that the Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC) approved the recommendation of the DOJ Task Force on Terrorism to free 18 Muslim Filipinos, including three inmates, who were alleged to be members of the Abu Sayyaf Group.

De Lima was a former Secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ). /kga