(Eagle News) – President Rodrigo Duterte said trafficking of shabu happened unhampered inside the National Bilibid Prisons right under the nose of then Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and that her driver had a role to play in it.
In his press conference held Sunday at 1 a.m., the President also pointed to the relationship between De Lima and her driver that gave rise to corruption inside the national penitentiary.
The President also declared there were intercepted conversation between De Lima and her driver that were provided by a “friendly country” that allegedly revealed the senator’s connections to the illegal activities happening inside NBP.
He, however, refused to reveal what this country was.
“It was done by a friendly country which I cannot reveal,” he said. “But that country is also mad at De Lima, because she is involved in drugs.”
Duterte said he got the privileged information as a president, but clarified that it was not his job to file a case in court.
–Special privileges at NBP when De Lima was DOJ chief–
“Are you not surprised that during her term, and for a longer period when she became a secretary of justice, there were special privileges granted to almost all the inmates? There were guns there inside. There were parties being held almost every night. There was a combo, a musical group, Liquors and alcoholic drinks flowed freely and women went inside and out of the prison,” Duterte told reporters.
“Now if I do not mention the connect between the senator, who was then a secretary of justice, and her driver, how would now I explain to the public that these things happened, — the partying, drugs, and even cooking shabu — went well unbridled, unhampered because of the driver himself,” he said.
The President said that all these things could have happened only with the “go signal” of then Justice Secretary De Lima.
“Would you think that a driver — a Department of Justice employee — could have allowed these things by himself? These illegal things which you saw on TV, almost every day for about a month? Do you think that without De Lima giving him the authority to allow the inmates to do that (these would have happened)? All of these could have only happened if there was the go signal from the head of the department which is the secretary,” the President pointed out.
-Duterte: De Lima’s relationship with driver was the “crux of the matter”-
He said even his women relatives were asking him why he had to reveal in public De Lima’s relationship with her driver.
The President said that this was because this relationship was “the crux of the matter.”
“Because what is really very crucial there is that because of that relationship with her driver which I termed immoral because the driver has a family and a wife, that connection gave rise to the corruption of what was happening inside the national penitentiary. Kaya nga nagkaroon ng (that is why there were) special privileges,” he stressed.
He President also revealed that a certain “Barlaan” was another bag man in the illegal drugs operations inside the national penitentiary.
“All of these things happened under your nose and shabu was floating inside, and what was really painful– that’s the reason we knew and I know – because they were trafficking shabu from the inside. Were it not for that authority – these cellphones and everything else the guns, this could not have happened?”
–Duterte warns NBP personnel–
The President then warned all personnel of the NBP to be ready to be investigated, and said that they would be assigned to Basilan or in Jolo.
He said that he was “warning everybody connected with the Bureau of Prisons in Muntinlupa, all the guards there and supervisors” to tell the truth before any governmental body.
The President that these personnel could be charged with “serious negligence of duty” or even worse, if they would be proven to be in conspiracy with the prisoners at the NBP.
“It could not have happened without your connivance. It could only mean conspiracy,” he said.
“If you are not ready to tell the truth, I said, be ready to be ousted. You are all invited in the meantime to go to Basilan and find your places there, and in Jolo. You are going there. Kayong lahat (All of you). I will be assigning you there,” the President added.
He said that there would be an investigation at the House of Representatives about the matter, but he also urged Senator De Lima to “proceed with the investigation” at the Senate.
De Lima held a press conference Friday, claiming that the President would be embarrassed if he would proceed with his investigation of her alleged drug links.
“I’m telling you Mr. President, ayaw ko pong mapahiya kayo. Mapapahiya kayo diyan at ayaw ko pong mangyari ‘yan sa inyo. Kung ano man ang ebidensya n’yo diyan, sinasabi ko na sa inyo na ang ebidensya na ‘yan ay hindi totoo. Fake, manufactured, fabricated,” De Lima said in a press briefing in Quezon City.
“Ang unsolicited advice ko po sa inyo, kung sino man ang nagsu-supply ng mga impormasyon na ‘yan, pwede ho bang harapin n’yo na sila ngayon at pilitin n’yo na silang magpakatotoo sa inyo… I will stand by my innocence, now and forever,” she added.
De Lima however would not want to provide details of the nature of her involvement with her driver, saying this was already too personal.
But she said that her driver was now fearing for his life.
Earlier, the senator said there were snippets of truth to what the President had earlier revealed.
“May kaunting totoo dyan. Pero karamihan po dyan exaggerations, distortions and lies, and foremost of the lies, ay ang sinasabi na may nangongolekta para sa akin sa Bilibid. That is an absolute lie,” she told reporters last week.
On Monday, the Senate proceeded with its inquiry on the extra-judicial killings linked to the illegal drug operations in the country.
(Eagle News Service)