By Jomel R. Paguian
A FORMER senator who was jailed in 2017 on drug charges that she claimed were fabricated to muzzle her investigation into the government’s deadly drug war expects a full investigation of her former tormentors, saying the wheels of justice have started to turn.
“With the reversal of the Ombudsman dismissal by the CA (Court of Appeals), I expect the Ombudsman to now conduct a full investigation of both Aguirre and Guevarra,” said Leila de Lima in a statement on Sunday, referring to former Department of Justice (DoJ) secretaries Vitaliano N. Aguirre II and Menardo I. Guevarra, who pursued the cases against her during the Duterte administration.
In a decision dated Nov. 21, the CA Special 17th Division ordered the Ombudsman to act on Ms. De Lima’s complaints against the DoJ secretaries for illegally admitting convicted individuals with crimes of moral turpitude as state witnesses in her alleged drug trading case — a breach of the witness protection law.
Ms. De Lima, also a former DoJ secretary before being elected senator in 2016, said the CA’s ruling proved that “the wheels of justice continue to turn.”
She added that what she expects now is for the Ombudsman “to require Guevarra to answer the administrative aspect of the case and defend his role in propping up criminal convicts as state witnesses even if they are disqualified from being granted immunity under the law.”
She had appealed the administrative aspect of the complaint to the CA and the criminal aspect to the Supreme Court (SC). “Hopefully, the SC will also decide favorably soon,” said Ms. De Lima.
The appellate court voided the Ombudsman’s Sept. 18, 2020 ruling for a lack of due process, stating that there was no justifiable reason for the Ombudsman’s refusal to investigate the administrative charges brought forth by the former senator.
“The proper course of action for the Ombudsman, therefore, was not to wash its hands clean of the administrative cases by dismissing the same outright,” read part of the ruling by Associate Justice Raymond Reynold R. Lauigan, explaining that the Ombudsman should have ordered the department secretaries to answer the complaint and present supporting evidence before the court.
The court ruled that the Ombudman’s action was a violation of the right to due process. “Any judgment or decision rendered notwithstanding such violation may be regarded as a lawless thing, which can be treated as an outlaw and slain at sight,” the ruling read.
Ms. De Lima claimed that by using convicted criminals as witnesses, the former officials violated Section 10(f) of Republic Act (RA) No. 6981, the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act. She alleged they committed the felony of dereliction of duty in prosecuting offenses under Article 208 of the Revised Penal Code and violated Section 3(e) of RA No. 3019, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
This legal victory of Ms. De Lima follows the order of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 206 last Nov. 13 to release her on bail as it continues to hear the last drug case filed against her. Two of the three cases against her have already been dismissed.