CHIEF Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said on Tuesday that the ouster of Sen. Leila M. de Lima from the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Justice is proof of her abuse of power to further her political ends, as he denied that President Duterte directed his allies to remove her from the said committee.
Panelo said the supermajority vote of two-thirds, or 16 votes out of the 24 senators, to remove de Lima from her committee chairmanship is the result of de Lima’s own “reckless abuse” of her position.
“Getting two-thirds negative vote of her own colleagues to remove her from the chairmanship of the Committee on Justice is an eloquent proof of her undoing and reckless abuse of her position as senator,” Panelo said in a statement.
Panelo also denied de Lima’s allegations that Mr. Duterte was behind the move to oust her as chairman of the committee, which launched an investigation into the alleged human-rights violations in the killing of suspected drug pushers during police operations.
“President Duterte does not interfere with the affairs of a coequal branch of the government nor does he influence the outcome of any of its activity. Such intrusion is anathema to his character. Not wanting to blame herself for creating the circumstances that led to her ouster, de Lima points to the President as her escape goat for her present predicament,” Panelo said.
Communications Secretary Martin M. Andanar said de Lima’s ouster from her committee chairmanship in the Senate was “unexpected,” contrary to her allegations that her ouster was orchestrated by President Duterte’s allies in the Senate as earlier threatened by him “to destroy” her.
Andanar said the Office of the President had not interfered with her committee’s investigations, and that Mr. Duterte had even allowed the National Police chief, Director General Ronald dela Rosa, to attend and testify at the Senate hearings.
“Senator de Lima is entitled to her opinion, but we know that the President and the Executive branch do not interfere with whatever is happening at the Senate. For example, in the investigation during the past week under the chairmanship of Senator de Lima, it is clear that the Palace did not interfere and it was allowed to continue,” Andanar said.
On Monday pro-administration senators, in a 16-4 vote, ousted Liberal Party de Lima as chairman of the Senate Justice Committee in the midst of its ongoing inquiry into the wave of extrajudicial killings of alleged drug suspects under the Duterte administration.
Named new chairman to replace de Lima was Sen. Richard J. Gordon, who vowed to pursue pending investigations initiated by de Lima.
“Nobody is happy seeing senators displaced from a committee, but the situation in the country is very fluid right now and I am concerned about it,” Gordon said in accepting the post, noting that the Duterte administration is in the midst of fighting a drug war across the country.
Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto also assured that the ongoing inquiry into the wave of killings of alleged drug suspects will continue even after de Lima’s ouster as its chief investigator.
With Butch Fernandez
1 comment
Sal, you can DENY ALL YOU WANT, but the fact remains that all the LP allied senators, Drilon, Hontiveros, Aquino, Villanueva, who are part and parcel of the MAJORITY who elected Pimentel were kept in the DARK on the ouster and that SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.
If I were the LP I will join the minority, which includes LP senator Recto and form a solid bloc of 6 senators who can now ally themselves with 7 other senators to wrest the Majority and be a TRUE INDEPENDENT SENATE as it should be.