<\/a>Senator Leila de Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO\/LYN RILLON<\/p><\/div>\n
SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez and Sen. Leila de Lima exchanged barbs on Sunday as the House of Representatives prepared to begin its inquiry into the senator\u2019s alleged links to illegal drug syndicates\u00a0 operating inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).<\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s\u00a0 an \u201cinquisition straight from the dark ages,\u201d\u00a0 said De Lima, who has denied the allegations against her.<\/p>\n\n
Alvarez, talking to reporters in Leyte on Saturday, challenged De Lima to submit herself to the House investigation to prove her innocence.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cHindi puwede ngawa nang ngawa ka lang diyan at sasabihin mo wala kang kasalanan (Simply denying the allegations is not enough),\u201d Alvarez said, adding, \u201cThat\u2019s not how democracy works.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
De Lima responded:\u00a0 The House inquiry is nothing but Duterte\u2019s kangaroo court meant to crucify me on false allegations.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe House conducting this inquiry to try me before false witnesses is not democracy. The House conducting this inquiry is Duterte\u2019s kangaroo court conducting the Salem witch trials and burning me at the stake. This is not democracy, this is an inquisition straight from the dark ages,\u201d De Lima said on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cAs far as I know I am not on trial. No formal complaint has been filed against me. But that is the purpose of their inquiry with all the so-called Bilibid witnesses all lined up to be presented in the House inquiry,\u201d added the former justice secretary.<\/p>\n\n
The President\u2019s allegations linking her to the illegal drug trade at the NBP came as De Lima, who heads the Senate committee on justice, began her own inquiry into the extrajudicial killings and other violations of human rights in Mr. Duterte\u2019s brutal war on drugs.<\/p>\n
Money from prison<\/strong><\/p>\nThe President had said that De Lima\u2019s driver, whom he claimed was also her lover, was reportedly the one collecting the money from the NBP.<\/p>\n\n
Alvarez, a close ally of the President\u00a0 said the House would also summon Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to the hearings, as well as the witnesses\u00a0 the Department of Justice already has in custody.<\/p>\n\n
Aguirre said last week that six witnesses, among them, prisoners, jail guards and even De Lima\u2019s \u201cfriends,\u201d were ready to testify in the House inquiry and show proof that she received drug money from the illicit prison trade during her time as justice secretary.<\/p>\n\n
The DOJ, through the Bureau of Corrections, oversees the NBP.<\/p>\n\n
De Lima said the House did not have a \u201clegitimate\u201d cause for conducting such a legislative investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alvarez, on the other hand,\u00a0 said the House committees were expected \u201cto recommend laws to stop drug syndicates from operating inside the Bilibid.\u201d He agreed that lawmakers did not have prosecutorial powers and could only investigate matters in aid of legislation.<\/p>\n\n
He conceded the House could not force De Lima to appear at the inquiry following \u201cinterparliamentary courtesy.\u201d With a report from\u00a0 Connie E. Fernandez, Inquirer Visayas<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez and Sen. Leila de Lima exchanged barbs on Sunday as the House of Representatives prepared to begin its inquiry into the senator\u2019s alleged links to illegal drug syndicates operating inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":809125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,45],"tags":[1481,1542,206079,41955],"byline":[265,107],"source":[206078],"column":[],"editor":[170633],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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Leila de Lima exchanged barbs on Sunday as the House of Representatives prepared to begin its inquiry into the senator\u2019s alleged links to illegal drug syndicates operating inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).","twitter_image":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2016\/08\/delima-0824.jpg","twitter_creator":"@inquirerdotnet","twitter_site":"@inquirerdotnet","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"besguerra","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/810551\/de-lima-inquisition-from-dark-ages#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/810551\/de-lima-inquisition-from-dark-ages"},"author":{"name":"besguerra","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#\/schema\/person\/6353f94c41e1ebe1c61cd0a7f20bb1b5"},"headline":"De Lima: Inquisition from dark ages","datePublished":"2016-08-28T17:30:39+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-21T08:29:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/810551\/de-lima-inquisition-from-dark-ages"},"wordCount":515,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/810551\/de-lima-inquisition-from-dark-ages#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2016\/08\/delima-0824.jpg","keywords":["Drugs","Leila de Lima","Nation","黑料社"],"articleSection":["Latest 黑料社 Stories","Nation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/810551\/de-lima-inquisition-from-dark-ages#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2016","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.inquirer.net\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/810551\/de-lima-inquisition-from-dark-ages","url":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/810551\/de-lima-inquisition-from-dark-ages","name":"De Lima: Inquisition from dark ages | Inquirer 黑料社","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/810551\/de-lima-inquisition-from-dark-ages#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/810551\/de-lima-inquisition-from-dark-ages#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/files\/2016\/08\/delima-0824.jpg","datePublished":"2016-08-28T17:30:39+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-21T08:29:44+00:00","description":"SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez and Sen. 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