Senators deny picking on De Lima

MANILA, Philippines — Senators yesterday denied picking on detained Sen. Leila de Lima when they dug up her drug cases in the ongoing Senate Blue Ribbon committee inquiry last week into the “GCTA for sale” and other alleged moneymaking rackets at the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the invitation for former BuCor officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and his deputy, Jovencio Ablen, to testify last week was to establish that corruption at the BuCor has been rampant for the past several years, as the inquiry could not get anything from incumbent bureau officials.

 “We could not get enough information from those we’ve invited after so many hearings because of their (BuCor officials) omerta (code of silence),” Lacson told dzBB, adding if not for the testimonies of two inmates, the committee would not have first-hand accounts of anomalies inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). 

Because of the testimonies of Ragos and Ablen, the committee was able to confirm at least seven corrupt practices of BuCor officials with rich drug convicts.

He said it was not the intention of the inquiry to dig up the cases against the detained senator but as the two witnesses “illustrate their actual experience, it’s inevitable that Sen. de Lima will be mentioned.”

Lacson pointed out De Lima’s cases are already being heard in the courts.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee, said the testimonies “were just a recitation of what has been happening” at the BuCor in the past years under different justice secretaries.

 “We’re not after Sen. de Lima,” Gordon said.

De Lima, in a statement the other day, hit Gordon for his “theory” that she made money from the GCTA law when she was at the Department of Justice.

“He (Gordon) even insinuates that the IRR was made intentionally confusing to allow it to be used for the benefit of NBP drug lords. I take deep offense to such posturing, which reeks of malice and bad faith,” she said.

On the other hand, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa denied being engaged in any corrupt activity when he headed the BuCor from April to October last year, saying no one dared to offer him any “pasalubong (welcome gift)” when he became its chief or “pabaon (parting gift) when he was about to leave the bureau.