Aguirre to hear Sebastian’s tell-all on Bilibid drug trade
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II yesterday said he is willing to talk to the camp of high profile inmate Jaybee Sebastian who wanted to reveal his knowledge about the illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary.
"I will only talk to his (Sebastian) lawyer if he wants to," Aguirre told GMA News Online after President Rodrigo Duterte turned down Sebastian's offer to spill the beans only to him.
"Even if I talk to Jaybee, he will be represented by a lawyer because anything Jaybee will say without the assistance of a lawyer will not be admissible in evidence most probably so might as well talk to the lawyer alone," the Cabinet official later explained in a press conference.
Aguirre also said the President advised Sebastian's camp to document his revelations by executing an affidavit.
The justice secretary, meanwhile, declined to address concerns on Duterte's fairness when he shut the door on Sebastian yet he listened personally last July to the denial of Peter Lim, a Cebuano businessman allegedly linked to the illegal drug trade in Visayas using the moniker "Jaguar."
"I could not answer that. Siguro at the time yung Peter Lim na 'yun ay hindi yung 'Jaguar' he is ought to be," Aguirre said, even as he clarified that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is still probing Lim's drug links.
Shortly after arriving from his two-day working visit in Vietnam, Duterte said in a news conference in Davao City that he could not grant Sebastian's request because he does not talk to criminals. The President instead asked Sebastian to reveal what he knows before a prosecutor.
Aguirre could not say what prompted Sebastian to change his mind about the matter after the inmate had previously indicated that he would only talk about the supposed anomalies in the food supply in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
Sebastian's offer came after he sustained injuries from a stabbing incident, which left inmate Tony Co dead and two others injured, last Wednesday inside the NBP. The incident comes after last week's House of Representatives hearing on the proliferation of illegal drug trade inside the NBP.
Fellow inmates had tagged Sebastian as the one running the narcotics operations in NBP, allegedly with the approval of Senator Leila De Lima during her term as Justice Secretary.
De Lima allegedly got millions from drug proceeds to bankroll her senatorial bid this year. The senator has since denied the allegations and has refused to appear before the House inquiry, which will resume on October 5.