Pangilinan: Aguirre has shown he is unfit to be Justice chief

MANILA, Philippines — Amid reports that Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II is about to be fired by President Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said that the justice chief had shown himself to be “unfit” for the post.

The STAR reported on Wednesday that Aguirre would get the ax likely at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting or anytime this week.

The chief executive supposedly has had enough of his justice chief, who has been heavily criticized after his prosecutors dismissed drug charges against "high-profile" drug suspects, the newspaper reported.

Pangilinan enumerated the controversial cases that Aguirre handled during his stint at the Department of Justice such as the P50-million bribery scandal involving Immigration officials, the spread of false information on some lawmakers’ involvement in the five-month Marawi siege, the downgrading of murder cases to homicide charges against Supt. Marvin Marcos despite the Senate’s and the National Bureau of Investigation’s findings, the clearing of former Customs chief Nicanor Faeldon and other officials in the multibillion illegal drugs smuggling case and the continuing drug trade at the National Bilibid Prison.

“From one blunder to the next, Secretary Aguirre, wittingly or unwittingly, has been showing how unfit he is for the position,” Pangilinan, who is the president of the Liberal Party, said. The LP was the ruling party during the previous administration and is the de facto opposition party despite having members in the majority blocs of both houses of Congress.

The president reportedly lost trust and confidence in Aguirre after he got tagged in the Immigration bribery scandal involving deputy commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles, who are both graduates of San Beda Law School just like Duterte and the justice chief.

Pangilinan also expressed doubt over the credibility of drug-related cases against another Liberal Party lawmaker, Sen. Leila De Lima, as charges filed by Aguirre had been “bared to be false and baseless.”

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III meanwhile refused to comment on the reported plan of Duterte to fire his Justice chief.

“I don’t react to gossips. It’s a waste of time,” Pimentel said in a text message to Philstar.com.

Sen. Joel Villanueva meanwhile said that the firing of Aguirre would ultimately depend on Duterte.

“Secretary Aguirre serves at the pleasure of the President. I've aired some disagreement with Secretary Aguirre before but ultimately, his accountability is with the president. If the president is not satisfied with his performance, it's his prerogative to fire him,” Villanueva said in a statement.

The newspaper also reported that Aguirre’s move to review the dismissal of drug cases against Peter Lima, Kerwin Espinosa, Peter Co and others were unlikely to save him.