The word war between officials of two law enforcement bodies over the handling\u2014or mishandling\u2014of high-profile suspects has reached the ears of President Aquino.<\/p>\n\n
The President summoned Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Interior Secretary Mar Roxas to Malaca\u00f1ang for a meeting Thursday ostensibly to talk things over away from the spotlight.<\/p>\n\n
De Lima and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Alfredo Caguioa had a 2:30 p.m. appointment with the President, according to Malaca\u00f1ang Appointments\u2019 Office.<\/p>\n\n
At a briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda confirmed that De Lima was scheduled to see Roxas, who supervises the Philippine National Police, at the Palace.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSo how can it be messier (when) the two department heads will be talking to each other? So let\u2019s wait for the (result of the) discussion between Secretary Mar and Secretary Leila,\u201d Lacierda said.<\/p>\n\n
He said this in the course of commenting on the word war between De Lima and a ranking PNP official over the killings of two robbery gang leaders in Laguna province last week, and the recapture of a drug trafficker and his wife in San Juan City on July 13.<\/p>\n\n
As justice secretary, De Lima is the immediate superior of the National Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into the possible culpability of Senior Supt. Jose Mario Espino, the sacked chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group\u2019s Anti-Organized Crime Division, and 19 CIDG officers.<\/p>\n\n
Expecting spot promotion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The CIDG team has been accused by two NBI witnesses of stealing P15 million to P20 million and 80 kilos of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) from the house of recaptured drug trafficker Li Lan Yan, alias Jackson Dy.<\/p>\n\n Espino, the leader of the team that raided Dy\u2019s apartment in San Juan, said he and his agents would bring perjury charges against the two witnesses.<\/p>\n\n He called a news conference on Wednesday and lashed out at De Lima for taking the witnesses\u2019 statements as \u201cgospel truth\u201d and for \u201cprejudging\u201d them.<\/p>\n\n \u201cWe were expecting a spot promotion. Instead, we were placed under a spot investigation,\u201d Espino said. \u201cWorse, our enemies now are our fellow government officials.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Espino maintained that the CIDG officers did not find drugs and money from Dy\u2019s apartment, saying the two witnesses were \u201clying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n A peeved De Lima turned the tables on the CIDG raiding team, saying she would get back at them for revealing the identities of two witnesses who were under government protection.<\/p>\n\n The justice secretary also blew her top last week when she learned about the killings of Ozamiz robbery gang leaders Ricky Cadavero and Wilfredo Panogalinga Jr. in San Pedro town, Laguna province, on July 15, while in police custody.<\/p>\n\n Rubout<\/strong><\/p>\n\n On Tuesday, PNP Director General Alan Purisima acknowledged that the killings of the two men by their police escorts were a \u201crubout\u201d and approved the administrative charges against the 14 policemen involved.<\/p>\n\n De Lima welcomed Purisima\u2019s decision, but also insisted that the arrest on July 12 of Cadavero and the arrest of Dy the following day were related, contrary to claims by the CIDG.<\/p>\n\n Lacierda said there was no need for a \u201cgag order,\u201d when asked if the President would not be asking De Lima and Espino to stop quarreling in public.<\/p>\n\n \u201cYou know, there is an investigation right now \u2026 Secretary Leila de Lima has stated (Wednesday) what\u2019s her position,\u201d said Lacierda, adding:<\/p>\n\n \u201cWe are not privy to what\u2019s going on there. There\u2019s an investigation going on, so let\u2019s wait for the investigation if it\u2019s going to turn out one way or the other.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The word war between officials of two law enforcement bodies over the handling\u2014or mishandling\u2014of high-profile suspects has reached the ears of President Aquino.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":887,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[481,36,37],"tags":[1745,1542,1987,1189,1044,126,48049],"byline":[3691],"source":[206078],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n