Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 17) — Detained Senator Leila de Lima rejected the Ombudsman’s request for her to explain the implementing rules and regulations of a controversial policy blamed for the questionable release of heinous crime convicts.
In a letter addressed to Ombdusman Samuel Martires on Tuesday, De Lima said she could no longer answer questions on matters relating to the Justice Department since she is no longer its secretary.
“I therefore suggest that your good office require the explanation you are demanding from me from the office of Secretary [Menardo] Guevarra,” De Lima said.
Martires in a September 6 letter gave De Lima three days to submit a written explanation or clarification on the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 10592, an amendment to the Revised Penal Code that expanded the number of days that could be deducted from an inmates’ jail time based on good behavior. Martires asked why the IRR crafted when De Lima was Justice Secretary did not exempt heinous crime convicts from benefiting from a shorter jail time as stated by the law.
De Lima said the rules were not issued in “my personal capacity.”
“Whatever query you may have regarding the IRR therefore may be properly and officially answered by the DOJ and the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government), being the institutions and agencies responsible for the implementation of said IRR,” De Lima said.
She took a swipe at the Ombudsman for what she earlier called a “highly irregular” order. She said it seems she was being asked to explain not just as a resource person “because I am being required to reply within a time period which is not usually a discouresty that is addressed to resource persons.”
The senator said the Ombudsman cannot demand an explanation from her as a respondent in an administrative investigation because it has no jurisdiction over her as a lawmaker. She added it can neither force her to respond as part of a criminal investigation since it has not issued a subpoena to order her to do so.
“In the absence of said criminal complaint and subpoena, I believe that any participation of my person in whatever proceeding your office is conducting in the matter is still premature,” De Lima said. Her statement was made inside the Philippine National Police Custodial Center, where she has been detained since 2017. She is facing drug charges, but she maintained these were all trumped up and meant to silence her as a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Mar Roxas, as then Interior Secretary, also received a similar request from the Ombudsman. He has not responded.
Officials said the implementation of the so-called good conduct law in 2013 led to the release of 1,914 heinous crime convicts. Duterte gave the prematurely released convicts 15 days to turn themselves. As of Tuesday morning, 692 have surrendered to authorities, two days before Duterte’s ultimatum ends.
The controversy began after reports former Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez, a convicted rapist and murderer, could walk free after getting his 40-year sentence commuted for good behavior. Congress has conducted hearings into the implementation of the law.
READ: How time served in prison is shortened based on behavior
