De Lima sues Aguirre, Guevarra for using convicts as state witnesses

Detained Senator Leila de Lima has sought the indictment of the former and current heads of the Department of Justice (DOJ) for using convicted criminals as state witnesses in her illegal drug trading case.

De Lima accused former DOJ secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and current secretary Menardo Guevarra of negligence in prosecution and tolerating criminal offenses, as well as of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, in a complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman.

She also filed administrative charges of gross neglect of duty and grave misconduct against the two respondents.

In her 22-page complaint-affidavit filed on October 29, De Lima said the admission of 13 convicts as state witnesses of the DOJ is illegal under the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Act, which prohibits felons from admission in the Witness Protection Program.

The felons cited by De Lima include convicted drug lords Vicente Sy, Peter Co, and German Agojo, all of whom had testified against her despite facing life imprisonment sentences.

"The convicts have all been already convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude. They are, therefore, disqualified being State Witnesses and from being granted immunity," she said.

De Lima, who is currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, said the convicts were cleared of their cases as her co-accused despite their admission of participating in the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison.

"Yet instead of so charging them for the said crime, Secretaries Aguirre and Guevarra illegally turned them into, and continue to maintain them as, state witnesses, despite knowing fully well that they are disqualified from being admitted as such because they are criminals already convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude," De Lima said.

"It is unfathomable how then-Secretary Aguirre and Secretary Guevarra could have missed the fact that the convicted felons are not qualified to become state witnesses," she added.

De Lima claimed Aguirre and Gueverra seemed to have given unwarranted benefits to the criminals due to their "malice and deliberate intent to favor the convicts" when they were freed from prosecution and granted immunity from suit for their testimony against her.

The lawmaker also said Guevarra was liable for administrative charges for his continued ignorance of the criminals' admission of participating in the illegal drug trade and their disqualification as state witnesses under the law.

Aguirre faces a separate complaint from De Lima at the Ombudsman over his alleged failure to investigate and prosecute more than 7,000 cases of alleged extrajudicial killings in the government's war on drugs. — KBK, GMA News