Aguirre: Leila only has self to blame

Sen. Leila de Lima is not being persecuted and she only has herself to blame for her poor defense in the drug trafficking charges against her, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said yesterday.

Aguirre said De Lima should stop insinuating that her arrest last Friday was political persecution for her persistent criticisms against the Duterte administration, particularly its war on drugs.

Aguirre pointed out De Lima was arrested because she actually did not submit an answer to the criminal charges filed against her during the preliminary investigation and instead insisted on questioning the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The senator said the cases against her should have been brought before the Office of the Ombudsman because she is a public official.

“This is a very simple case. She did not file a counter-affidavit in the DOJ so it was easy for the judge to see probable

cause and issue the warrant of arrest,” he stressed in an interview.

Aguirre, a known litigation expert, believes that De Lima’s legal strategy that focused on the issue of jurisdiction was “weak.”

De Lima’s fellow Liberal Party senators supported her argument on jurisdiction, saying violation of Republic Act 9165 ( Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act) falls under “other offenses committed by public officials” stipulated in the Sandiganbayan Law.

But Aguirre said even the Court of Appeals did not buy the senator’s argument that the drug cases should have been forwarded to the Ombudsman when it denied her plea for a temporary restraining order that could have prevented the DOJ from filing the cases in court.

Aguirre also denied the claim of De Lima and fellow LP senators that the arrest warrant appeared to be rushed.

LP senators said the judge who issued the warrant just came back from Macau and apparently did not give any cognizance to De Lima’s motion to quash the charges against her.