(Eagle News)– Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Wednesday, Nov. 7, said that as far as he knew, no convicted person has been used as a state witness against Senator Leila de Lima.
Guevarra made the comment after De Lima filed charges for negligence in prosecution, toleration of criminal offenses and for violations of Section 3 of Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act against him and his predecessor Vitaliano Aguirre “for illegally admitting and continuing the unlawful admission, respectively, of 13 convicted felons as state witnesses in the trumped-up drug trade cases against her.”
She identified the supposed convicts as Nonilo Arile, Jojo Baligad, Herbert Colanggo, Engelberto Durano, Rodolfo Magleo, Vicente Sy, Hans Tan, Froilan Trestiza, Peter Co, Noel Martinez, Joel Capones, German Agojo, and Jaime Patcho.
She also charged Guevarra with gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct for “continuing the failure of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute the convicts despite their public admission of their involvement in the illegal drug trading inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP),” noting that he”has already been notified of the fact that the criminals convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude were illegally admitted as State Witnesses into the [Witness Protection Security and Benefits Program] of the DOJ.”
“As such, the proper response was to remove them as beneficiaries. Still, he has refused and is unwilling to do so,” she said.
“Given the explicit guidelines provided under Section 10 of the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act, it is unfathomable how then-Secretary Aguirre and Secretary Guevarra could have missed the fact that the convicted felons are not qualified to become state witnesses..There is no room for any judgment call as their circumstance as convicts for crimes involving moral turpitude is beyond debate and is readily apparent,” she added.
De Lima is facing drug-related charges in various Muntinlupa courts.
She is currently detained in Camp Crame.
