Former Usec linked to drugs seeks ‘fairness’
FORMER Justice Undersecretary Francisco “Toti” F. Baraan III appealed for respect of his right to a fair trial amid further disclosures by President Rodrigo R. Duterte himself that Mr. Baraan was “a key player” in the drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).
Mr. Duterte named him and his former boss now Senator Leila M. de Lima as part of a drug “matrix” in the national penitentiary.
“Baraan would be a key player there,” said Mr. Duterte, adding that Ms. de Lima and her former aide Ronnie P. Dayan were also part of the NBP drug web.
Mr. Duterte is set to reveal these intricate connections by Thursday. He said a police superintendent and governor are also involved in drug activities that have turned the penitentiary into a lavish sanctuary for convicted drugs lords who continue their underground operations from behind bars.
“The question really... is why were they enjoying privileges as if they are not prisoners,” Mr. Duterte said in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday afternoon, following his visit at the wake of Police Senior Inspector Mark Gil S. Garcia at the Philippine National Police’ Rizal provincial office in the municipality of Taytay. (Mr. Garcia was killed in the course of a buy-bust operation in Inarawan village, Antipolo City, on Aug. 19.)
For his part, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II said on Wednesday that inmates, guards, and close friends such as lawyers of Ms. de Lima and Mr. Baraan have come forward to testify against the two.
But Mr. Baraan raised the issue of premature judgment against him, appealing for “the opportunity to present my side.”
“All I ask is fairness and due process, a chance to vindicate myself in a formal proceeding,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
The Pangasinan native and former politician said his role in the operations at the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the NBP was administrative and “limited,” contrary to reports that he was tasked to directly supervise over the prison facility.
“I did never oversee, either on the ground or from a distance, the prison operations in Bucor’s 7 penal colonies, more so the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa,” Mr. Baraan said.
He said he merely reviewed BuCor’s action documents, and countersigned and forwarded these to then justice secretary de Lima.
“That takes just a few minutes. Then, for BuCor my task is done that day,” Mr. Baraan said.
Citing as well an unrelated role in a defense agreement with the United States, the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, Mr. Baraan said most of his time was spent “resolving petitions for review, attending meetings, receiving foreign guests, etc.”
Mr. Duterte linked Ms. de Lima and subsequently Mr. Baraan about a week before a scheduled inquiry on the drugs war to be led by the senator.
Ms. de Lima has denied the accusation, saying she herself conducted a raid at the NBP that exposed the luxurious living of inmates in the facility’s maximum security prison. While emphasizing that his department is not targeting specific personalities, Mr. Aguirre said on Wednesday the Department of Justice has gathered evidence as well as four to six sworn affidavits against Ms. de Lima and Mr. Baraan.
The affidavits point to the “neglect they did, why the drugs proliferated in the NBP,” Mr. Aguirre said on the sidelines of an event.
“I suggest you wait for the House investigation,” he added.
Mr. Duterte’s allies at the House of Representatives have called for a probe into the alleged drug links of former justice officials, specifically in connection with NBP operations.
As for Mr. Dayan, Mr. Aguirre affirmed an earlier claim that he “collects drug money from the drug lords.”
“After elections, they ( Mr. Dayan and Ms. de Lima) were seen in Urbiztondo, Pangasinan,” Mr. Aguirre added.
Mr. Duterte in his initial salvo against Ms. de Lima and company did not name names, but alleged that a lady senator profiting from illegal drugs had at her service a driver who was also her lover and bagman.
For its part, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has joined criticisms of the slew of extrajudicial killings in the first 55 days of Mr. Duterte’s administration.
“We have not experienced this scale and magnitude of cases since the Commission on Human Rights was established in 1987,” Jose Luis C. Gascon, CHR chairperson, said at a briefing at the House on the 2017 budget.
Mr. Gascon clarified that extrajudicial killings were present starting from the presidency of Corazon C. Aquino up to the administration of Benigno S. C. Aquino III, even noting that during the leadership of former President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo, victims of extrajudicial killings included not just drug suspects but also journalists and human rights defenders.
But the scale of extrajudicial killings in the first 55 days of the Duterte administration is “unprecedented,” said Mr. Gascon who also noted the figure is now close to 2,000.
But he also acknowledged that his agency is unable to “respond to every single case,” and is investigating just about 20% of the death tally.
“What we are doing is essentially documenting this, trying to dig deeper [and] go further. We are asking our investigators to look into the profiles....Our objective is essentially is documentation and calling out authorities to fully investigate this,” Mr. Gascon said.
He said his agency has asked the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service to conduct its own investigation. “There is a provision in the PNP Reorganization Law that mandates the Internal Affairs Service to investigate every single instance where there is a discharge of a firearm or every single instance when there is a death that has occurred,” Mr. Gascon said.
He added that the International Criminal Court (ICC) can “intervene” in these cases if the government is “unable and unwilling” to tackle them.
Mr. Gascon said the CHR will investigate in particular the police killing of a pedicab driver in Pasay City.”
In cases as this where it appears that excessive force is used, we ask that this also be fully investigated by the PNP-Internal Affairs Service and [that it files] appropriate charges against those who have breached established protocols and standards,” he said.
Under the proposed budget being heard in Congress, the CHR is allotted P496 million, compared with P460 million in 2016. — with