2 DOJ staff, inmate tag Leila in Bilibid drug trade

MANILA, Philippines – Two former staff members of Sen. Leila de Lima when she was secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and an inmate are among the witnesses who tagged her in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) during the previous administration.

Jong Caranto and Bogs Obuyes, both clerks at the office of the secretary in DOJ, have executed affidavits claiming that they were told by then secretary De Lima to deposit millions of pesos in a bank account that was not under her name.

The STAR learned that Caranto and Obuyes have gone to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and underwent lie detector tests.

An NBP inmate identified as Melvin of Malabon City has also submitted to the DOJ a sworn statement implicating the senator in the narcotics operations of convicted drug lords serving sentences at the penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.

DOJ Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has confirmed that six witnesses have surfaced to pin down De Lima on possible drug and graft charges.

While he did not name the supposed witnesses, the DOJ chief hinted that they include NBP guards and inmates.

“What they have provided is volunteered information. It’s not true that the evidence are being manufactured against her. These information are just overflowing,” Aguirre told The STAR.

Aguirre said they have so far been able to trace several bank accounts where the alleged drug money went, but quickly clarified that these were not under the name of De Lima.

Aguirre also reiterated that the ongoing fact-finding probe of the DOJ and NBI is not targeted at De Lima and the main objective is to determine how illegal drugs proliferated inside the NBP under the previous administration.

He explained that the evidence gathered would be submitted to the House of Representatives for its investigation on the controversy before the DOJ and NBI would verify their authenticity for possible charges of anti-graft and anti-drugs against those implicated by the witnesses.

No less than President Duterte accused De Lima of benefiting from drug money from drug lords in NBP.

Also tagged by Duterte were De Lima’s reported driver and alleged lover Ronnie Dayan, former DOJ undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, former Pangasinan governor and now Pangasinan 5th District Rep. Amado Espino Jr., Pangasinan provincial administrator Raffy Baraan and former Bureau of Corrections chief Franklin Bucayu.

Apart from the narcotics trade in the NBP, the DOJ is also set to look into the involvement of some 30 officials tagged by Mayor Rolando Espinosa of Albuera, Leyte for their alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in the Visayas.

Aguirre on Tuesday told The STAR that Espinosa could also be placed under witness protection of the government after the local official submitted to authorities an affidavit naming several officials – including a senator and several congressmen and police officials – who supposedly protected and benefited from the narcotics operations of his son Kerwin.

The mayor’s affidavit submitted to the local police reportedly included a senator who was a former DOJ secretary.

While Espinosa did not make public the names, De Lima issued another denial after a photo of her and Kerwin came out in the media.

De Lima has persistently denied the charges, saying Duterte is targeting her supposedly in retaliation for her previous active pursuit of his alleged involvement in the killings of the dreaded Davao death squad.

Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido, police chief of Albuera, said Espinosa had linked a senator and a former general to the illegal drug trade.

Espenido, however, said Espinosa refused to reveal the names and left the announcement of their identities to President Duterte.

He added that Espinosa’s statement has been submitted to the police provincial director.

He said Espinosa should not be killed to ensure other personalities receiving drug money would be exposed and prosecuted.

De Lima’s former employee Caranto was assisted by a lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office when he and Obuyes went to the DOJ to give their statements.

Caranto denied the ownership of millions of pesos deposited to a bank account under his name.

Sources said Caranto and Obuyes allegedly maintained separate accounts in the same bank where millions of pesos were deposited.

Sources added Caranto received P4 million every month from November last year to May this year, while Obuyes received various amounts some time in 2014.

Copies of deposit slips from the said bank accounts were presented to them to verify the information, which they immediately denied, sources said further.

Caranto said he also worked with De Lima at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and later at the DOJ.

He had earlier asked De Lima’s driver Dayan to help him get a job at the CHR.

House probe

The House of Representatives will summon drug convicts serving time at the NBP in Muntinlupa, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said yesterday.

“We will ask them to testify in our investigation into why the illegal drug trade flourished in Bilibid during the time of former justice secretary (Leila) de Lima,” he said.

“We will get first-hand information from them. We want to gather the facts. We want to know how these drug convicts managed to continue with their illegal activities inside and outside Bilibid, the persons they gave drugs to and the individuals they gave money to,” he said.

He said De Lima spoke too soon when she dismissed President Duterte’s drug matrix as “garbage.”

“What if there is evidence against her. That’s not garbage. I pity her. Whenever she opens her mouth, it gets her in deeper trouble,” he added.

De Lima is on top of Duterte’s matrix.

Alvarez said all those named in the President’s document, including De Lima’s former driver, would be summoned to the inquiry.

“We will invite the senator but we cannot force her to attend. It’s up to her. If there is testimony against her, I think she has to answer in the forum where such testimony was given,” he said.

De Lima has declared that she was not involved in drugs and did not protect drug lords.

In fact, she said she curtailed abuses in the NBP during her time as justice secretary.

She said she is willing to give up her Senate seat or be shot in front of Duterte if there is “genuine” evidence against her.

She described the projected House inquiry as Duterte’s “kangaroo court” that is out to indict her using fabricated evidence.

The House has not set a date for its inquiry.

Alvarez said the planned investigation “will be in aid of legislation. We will not be acting as a court,” he said. – With Jess Diaz, Ghio Ong, Cecille Suerte Felipe