(Eagle News)–Senator Leila de Lima on Thursday, Sept. 12, slammed several of her colleagues for allegedly steering the Senate joint panel hearing that saw two resource persons tag her in corruption in the Bureau of Corrections when she was justice secretary.
In a statement issued from Camp Crame, where she is detained for drug-related charges, De Lima in particular called out Senators Richard Gordon, Francis Tolentino and Ping Lacson, who she said were “practically the ones who testified for, if not guided” the testimonies of former BuCor officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and former intelligence agent Jovencio Ablan Jr.
Ragos and Ablan said on Thursday’s hearing into the problems in BuCor that they had delivered money from inmates in the New Bilibid Prison to De Lima’s house for her campaign kitty.
De Lima was at that time running for senator.
According to De Lima, based on reports she received, Lacson “primarily asked leading questions” while Gordon “read out loud the false and malicious imputations” against her, which meant Ragos did not even have to testify.
She said Gordon “steered away the discussions from the violations of (Senator Ronald) Dela Rosa and (Nicanor) Faeldon” and “insinuated” the implementing rules and regulations of the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law, which she and then-Interior Secretary Mar Roxas crafted in 2014, “were written to achieve corrupt letters of the law.”
Dela Rosa and Faeldon are former BuCor chiefs.
As for Tolentino, De Lima said he “even attempted to have Ragos confirm prior false stories which have already been debunked.”
In the first place, she said Ablan and Ragos “previously gave perjured testimonies against me during the 2016 House justice committee hearings and also in the ongoing trial in my drug cases pending before the Regional Trial Court of Muntinlupa.”
“They were lying then. They continue to do so under the direction of (President Rodrigo) Duterte and his operation,” she said.
“I guess parliamentary courtesy, delicadeza, even basic human decency is out the window in the halls of the Senate,” De Lima added.