Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II (File photo by MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
TACLOBAN CITY-Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II believes that he still enjoys the confidence of President Duterte despite the reported disappointment of the feisty chief executive over the dismissal of the complaint against the country’s alleged top drug personalities.
He also debunked a report that the President admonished him over the dismissal of the illegal drug trafficking complaint against businessman Peter Lim, self-confessed drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr., and others.
Aguirre was in the city to attend the national conference of the country’s prosecutors that started on March 12 and would end on Friday.
“I believe so kasi wala naman akong kasalanan dito, pinalalaki lang … papano hindi ko alam ang resolution na yan (I still have the confidence of the President because I have not done anything wrong. It was just bloated out of proportion. I didn’t know about the resolution),” he said in a news conference on Wednesday.
“Ayon sa batas, (According to the law) we have to follow the law that the Secretary of Justice will only intervene in a case when if it was elevated to him or appeal to him for a petition for review. Wala naman petition for review dito (There was no petition for review here),” he added.
President Duterte reportedly questioned the resolution of state prosecutors that dismissed the complaint against the suspected high-profile drug kingpins due to weak evidence.
Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told reporters on Tuesday that the President planned to invoke his power of supervision and control and would review the dismissal of the complaint.
The President even told Aguirre that the justice secretary would take the places of Lim and Espinosa if the two would go scot-free, according to Roque./lb