NBP drug matrix: Raps readied

MANILA, Philippines - Criminal charges related to drugs and corruption are being readied against individuals linked by President Duterte to the illegal drug trade operated from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), Palace officials said yesterday.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella and presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said Justice Secretary Vitalliano Aguirre would name the respondents and reveal the charges.

“Let’s just take a cue from what the Department of Justice (DOJ) said, that several witnesses have surfaced to prove certain allegations against certain personalities and they’re in the process of taking the affidavits of these particular witnesses including New Bilibid Prison guards, inmates, and former friends of these personalities that had been referred to,” Abella said.

Earlier, Duterte said that Sen. Leila de Lima was “already finished” as he claimed that her former driver and alleged lover Ronnie Palisoc-Dayan was involved in the drug trade.

Duterte also claimed that De Lima had another lover, Warren Cristobal, one of her motorcycle-riding escorts from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Dayan is included in Duterte’s drug matrix. Warren has no drug link. De Lima has admitted that she asked the MMDA to assign Cristobal to her, but denied that they were lovers.

Abella, when asked about the nature of the charges being readied, replied, “If and when these have been finally verified, the charges made have to deal with graft and drug-related graft.”

Abella also said that the involvement of personalities is being verified “but the so-called links are being finalized.”

He also maintained that Duterte’s drug matrix was validated before he made it public early Thursday morning in Davao.

“Whatever he comes out with is based on collected intelligence. It’s a collaborative intelligence report and so… He has certain basis for which we are not privy to,” Abella said.

Panelo also maintained that Duterte could not be faulted for releasing the drug matrix. 

“The President announced that there are drug lords in Muntinlupa… Remember, he mentioned something about a conversation between that drug lord and the driver. I think that will be part of the evidence,” Panelo said.

He was apparently referring to the wiretapped conversations purportedly between Dayan and one of the drug lords in the NBP.

“The legality of a taped conversation as evidence in court does not remove or alter the fact that there was a taped conversation and there is truth in what you heard in that taped conversation, which is the involvement of the people,” Panelo said.

Panelo also dismissed the claim of Espino that he could not be in cahoots with De Lima because the latter even filed charges against him in connection with a black sand mining case.

“It doesn’t follow. Kung hindi kayo magkasama sa ibang kaso, puede naman kayong magkaibigan sa iba pa (if you are not involved in a different case, it is possible that you are friends in others),” he said.

Panelo also debunked the statement of the Commission on Human Rights that the continuing drug-related killings could be classified as crimes against humanity, which might go to the International Criminal Court.

“Wala yun, kalokohan lang yun (That is nothing, it’s just nonsense). Genocide involves massacre … What we see is killing between members of a syndicate. That’s what we need to emphasize. First, there is ‘onsehan.’ Second, because of the surrender of those involved in pushing drugs, those who have not surrendered fear that the others will point to them,” he said.

Palace wishes for De Lima: Sleep soundly, happy birthday

Despite the word war between Duterte and De Lima, Palace officials still wished De Lima to “sleep soundly” and have a “happy birthday.”

De Lima is celebrating her 57th birthday today.

“According to President Duterte, Senator De Lima has been having nightmares. So my birthday wish for the good senator is that she sleeps soundly tonight and thereafter,” Panelo said.

Abella also wished the senator “a happy birthday.”

House won’t force De Lima

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives will not force De Lima to attend its planned investigation into the NBP drug trade during her time as justice secretary.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said yesterday the House intends to invite all those mentioned in President Duterte’s drug matrix, at the head of which is De Lima, and alleged witnesses who could testify on their supposed links to convicted drug lords serving time in Bilibid.

“It’s her option to show up, but we cannot force her. We have what we call inter-chamber courtesy. We will respect that,” Alvarez explained.

Alvarez noted that the inquiry would proceed even without De Lima because Aguirre and the six witnesses he claims to have against her would be invited.

The alleged witnesses include two former officials of the National Bureau of Investigation whom De Lima dismissed for their supposed connections to suspected pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.

Other prominent personalities in Duterte’s drug matrix were Espino and former justice undersecretary Francisco Baraan lll.

De Lima, Espino and Baraan have denied dealing in illegal drugs or protecting drug lords.

De Lima described Duterte’s drug matrix as garbage, saying even a 12-year-old could make such a “drawing.”

The House has not set a date for its investigation.

While his chamber will inquire into the illegal drug trade, Alvarez discouraged his colleagues from looking into numerous reported cases of extrajudicial and vigilante killings because the House should not duplicate what the Senate is already doing.

The Senate committee on justice, chaired by De Lima, has opened an investigation into extrajudicial killings.

Even with Alvarez’s statement, Duterte’s Makabayan bloc allies have filed a resolution calling for an inquiry into these killings.

Makabayan members said many police units have violated due process and unjustifiably killed drug suspects in the name of the administration’s war on illegal drugs.

Intel funds not for destroying De Lima

Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno clarified yesterday his statements on television on the use of President’s P2.5-billion intelligence fund for 2017 and the reduction in the budget for the Department of Health (DOH).

In an interview with ANC last Wednesday, Diokno was asked if the President could use his intelligence fund to support his “drug matrix,” which includes De Lima. He gave an affirmative answer.

In a letter to The STAR yesterday, Diokno said he did not mention De Lima specifically in his interview with ANC.

“Past presidents may have used the Office of the President’s intelligence and confidential funds to buy information against their perceived political foes, but that is not President Duterte’s intention,” he said in the letter.

The budget chief also defended the 500-percent increase in the intelligence outlay, from P500 million this year to P2.5 billion in 2017.

“The size of the budget should depend on the intended results. For example, the Aquino administration spent P3 billion (P500 million times six years) for confidential and intelligence funds with zero results. President Duterte, in his first 50 days, has shown huge success in his fight against criminality and proliferation of drugs,” he said.

Diokno likewise defended the increase in the budget of the Office of the President, from P2.9 billion this year to P20.030 billion in 2017.

He said P15 billion of the OP funding for next year “will go to the Asean’s 50th anniversary, which the Philippines will host next year.”

As for the P31-billion reduction in the DOH’s budget, he said this was “because the subsidy for PhilHealth premiums is now under the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. itself.”

“To further clarify, the P43.8-billion subsidy for premium payment of indigent family and senior citizens was previously included in the DOH budget in 2016 but is now transferred, and even increased to P50.1 billion, under the PhilHealth budget of 2017,” he said.

“In other words, had the Philhealth subsidy remained under the DOH, the budget of the DOH actually increased by 15 percent or about P18.395 billion,” he added.

The STAR based its earlier story on documents Diokno submitted to the House of Representatives, which clearly show that the DOH outlay will go down from P125 billion this year to P94 billion in 2017. With Jess Diaz