(Eagle News) — Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II branded as “lies and fabrications” the allegations made by a witness produced by senator Leila De Lima before the Senate, saying that these were products of a “fertile and coached imagination.”
He also branded the presentation by De Lima of witness Edgar Matobato, a self-confessed hired killer, as a “desperate” move meant to divert public attention from allegations of illegal drug connection being hurled against the senator.
Aguirre bared that the Department of Justice presently has witnesses who would prove that De Lima personally received money from the drug lords operating from the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP).
— DOJ ready to present witnessses vs De Lima —
He said the witnesses would be presented in Congress during its investigation of illegal drugs at the New Bilibid Prisons.
He also questioned the timing of the testimony of Matobato at the Senate.
“This is a futile attempt to divert the public’s attention against the parties who are responsible for drugs in the BuCor (Bureau of Corrections). Desperate times call for desperate measures and somebody is really desperate!” Aguirre said in a separate statement.
Aguirre also questioned why De Lima did not file any case against then mayor Rodrigo Duterte, when the witness, Edgar Matobato, was still under the DOJ’s Witness Protection Program (WPP).
–Aguirre dares De Lima to produce 1st Matobato affidavit —
He said that Matobato’s first affidavit while he was still with the WPP was very different from what he is saying at the senate hearing.
“The statement of witness Edgar Matobato today before the Senate Committee on Justice Hearing on Extrajudicial Killings are lies and fabrications,” read a statement from Aguirre.
“It can only be the product of a fertile and a coached imagination,” he added.
During the Senate hearing, De Lima claimed she would require Matobato to execute an affidavit containing what he bared at the senate inquiry.
“One of the requirements for admission to the WPP is you have to have an affidavit. One cannot be part of the WPP without executing an affidavit. He is obviously not telling the truth. Can he be trusted?” Aguirre said.
Because of this, Aguirre dared De Lima to produce the affidavit executed by Matobato when he was still under the WPP while she was still the DOJ head.
“Bakit hindi nila mailabas ang mga affidavit na yan? Dahil kapag inilabas nila ang mga affidavit na yan, yang mga pinagsasabi nila yan wala sa mga affidavit na yun. (Why can’t they produce the affidavit? Because if they do give out those affidavits, what they are saying now is not in those affidavits),” the DOJ chief said.
He said De Lima had all the time to file the case against Duterte which she claimed she was building up then.
He said De Lima when she was still head of the Commission on Human Rights and the DOJ failed to even file a case against Duterte despite the said agencies’ investigation.
“Why was it that there was no case filed against Mayor Duterte (then)?” he said. (with a report from Erwin Temperante, Eagle News Service)
