SC ruling does clear Aguirre, DOJ from persecution claims – de Lima

Senator Leila de Lima on Saturday argued that, contrary to former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II's claim, a Supreme Court decision that affirmed the validity of de Lima's arrest did not necessarily vindicate him and the Justice Department (DOJ) from her accusations of persecution.

"The SC’s denial of my Motion for Reconsideration does not mean that Aguirre or the DOJ is vindicated in filing charges against me," said de Lima in statement she wrote from her Camp Crame cell.

"It only means that the Davao criminal syndicate that has captured state power in 2016 has not only been using the power of the executive department to eliminate their sworn enemies, like myself, but was also able to extend its influence as well to the judicial branch of government."

De Lima furthermore insisted that charges against her, and thus her imprisonment, were without basis.

"Aguirre knows how he fabricated every single piece of testimony against me, from arranging the House of Representatives circus of Bilibid convicts, the stabbing of Jaybee Sebastian and other Bilibid 19 convicts who then still refused to testify against me, the special privileges given to the convicts who did testify against me, the coercion and intimidation of DOJ officials and employees who refused to implicate me, up to the manufacturing of fictitious and non-existent BDO bank accounts which, up to now, have not been shown to actually exist and contain money that belongs to me," she pointed out.

Agurrie on Thursday had crowed that the Supreme Court had vindicated the him and the DOJ by denying de Lima's motion for reconsideration and affirming her arrest over drug-related charges.

Baseless

Sought for comment, Aguirre said he could not recall any accusation that he made that was dismissed as "baseless."

"It was her cases that she filed when she was the Secretary of Justice that were dismissed one after the other. The cases against GMA, the PCSO officials are among those cases that were dismissed for being baseless," Aguirre said in a text message to GMA News Online.

He also pointed out that, if de Lima was innocent of any of the charges he had file against her, why had she not been able to secure the dismissal of any of them.

"She was not even able to secure a TRO from any court in connection with the numerous cases I filed against her," Aguirre argued. "At the very least, she should be honest with her facts." — DVM, GMA News