House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Monday, November 28 that he won’t hesitate to sign a warrant for Senator Leila de Lima’s arrest should the House justice committee ask him to.
This comes on the heels of Thursday’s committee hearing wherein Ronnie Dayan—her former driver, bodyguard and lover—testified that De Lima prevented him from heeding the earlier subpoenas sent to him by the justice panel, advising him to keep hiding.
De Lima is accused of receiving millions pesos of drug payoffs from drug lords. She allegedly used Dayan, whom she had a seven-year relationship with, in collecting such money.
“Most likely I will approve a warrant of arrest” which will be executed by the House sergeant-at-arms, Alvarez told House reporters in a press conference.
He clarified that he will only issue the warrant upon recommendation of the justice panel, which approved a motion during the hearing to issue a show-cause order against De Lima.
‘Foolish’
The show-cause order will basically compel her to explain why she shouldn’t be cited for contempt by the House of Representatives when she prevented Dayan to testify before the justice panel.
For Alvarez, no senator is foolish enough to tell a witness to go into hiding, which is why De Lima’s interference is an “insult” to a coequal branch of the legislature.
“Dapat i-consider natin na may breach of parliamentary courtesy na ginawa itong si Senator De Lima for interfering in the proceedings of the House.
“So ang na-insulto dito is the institution itself (So the institution itself was insulted),” explained the speaker.
He also underscored that the House even extended De Lima the necessary courtesy when the panel issued invites to her to attend earlier hearings “so she may express her side.”
“She ignored it,” Alvarez said.
Kangaroo court
But the senator remained defiant, saying she won’t honor the show-cause order to be issued against her.
She said she is just being consistent with her defiance in attending the inquiry she described as “plain and simple kangaroo court” bent on maligning her reputation.
De Lima said she leaves it up to her legal team to respond to any warrants or orders to be issued against her.
She also denied committing obstruction of justice when she told Dayan to skip the House inquiry.
“Wala namang makatarungan sa ginagawa nila sa akin. So why call it obstruction of justice? Mas maganda ang itawag natin diyan obstruction of prosecution. I’m trying to obstruct the acts of persecution being done to me by this administration,” she said.
“Anong utos? I stand by my advice. It was an advice and I stand by it,” she added.
The lady senator also said she is uncertain whether to attend the continuation of the Senate inquiry on the killing of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. on Monday, December 5, when Dayan will face the hearing.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee, said they would invite Dayan to resolve the discrepancies in the dates of exchanges mentioned by Dayan and high-profile drug suspect Kerwin Espinosa.
Late Monday, Lacson said the leaders of the two chambers of Congress will meet to thresh out their differences and strive to resolve their dilemma over the House’s pursuit of De Lima.
The post Speaker Open to Issuing Arrest Warrant vs. De Lima appeared first on Manila Bulletin.
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