De Lima, Blue Ribbon feud continues

MANILA, Philippines — Detained Sen. Leila de Lima continues to trade barbs with the Senate Blue Ribbon committee, which has invited Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong to appear in the hearing on the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) controversy next week.

Magalong confirmed he will attend the hearing as a resource person of the panel chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon.

De Lima said she became offended by Gordon’s insinuations that the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the GCTA were made intentionally confusing to benefit drug lords locked at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

She said such posturing reeks of malice and bad faith.

Magalong said Gordon had invited him to attend the hearing to share what he knows about illegal activities at the NBP in his capacity as former chief of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

Magalong had prepared a special operations intelligence plan to contain the malpractices in the NBP in 2014.

“The way I look at it, he (Gordon) wants to get the bigger picture, higher perspective encompassing the situation in the NBP,” Magalong told The STAR.

Gordon added former justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II was also invited to appear on Sept. 19 to explain the GCTA implementation during his term.

Gordon pointed out the implementation of the GCTA law by the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) should conform with the Department of Justice’s Order 953, which required the penal agency to seek the justice secretary’s approval before releasing prisoners convicted of heinous crimes.

The Senate is investigating the wholesale release of heinous crime convicts by the BuCor under the GCTA law.

Magalong recalled directly reporting to former justice secretary and now Sen. Leila de Lima in 2014.

In the same year, some convicted Chinese drug lords still managed to control the drug trade even if they were locked up at the state penitentiary.

“We prepared a special operations intelligence plan that we presented to then-secretary De Lima. I told her all in spite of the fact that some high-profile Chinese drug personalities continue to control and manage the illegal drug trade in the country,” Magalong said.

Magalong said he coordinated his operation with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in preparing the special operations intelligence plan at NBP.

According to Magalong, he was puzzled why the CIDG and PDEA were excluded in a raid at the NBP.

He said he was not even informed about the raid, which he learned only from retired General Marcelo Garbo, then police deputy chief for operations.

Magalong said Garbo and then NBP chief Franklin Bucayu led the raid.

He pointed out that as standard law enforcement practice, the teams behind the intelligence gathering operation should be included in the raiding team.

Magalong said the special operations intelligence plan contained information about the involvement of some BuCor officials.

If the CIDG had been included in the raid, Magalong said they could have gotten more information to support the corruption case against BuCor and NBP officials.

On Dec. 15, 19, and 22, 2014, De Lima led the raids at NBP which yielded contraband from some luxurious “kubols” or huts of prisoners.

However, in February 2017, De Lima was arrested and locked up after being accused by several high-profile prisoners of being involved in the drug trade at NBP. De Lima maintained her innocence.