Lawmakers hit De Lima over passport cancellation

MEMBERS of Congress criticized Justice Secretary Leila de Lima for asking for the cancellation of passports of the personalities involved in the multibillion peso priority development assistance fund (PDAF) scam.

Last Thursday, de Lima asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel the passports of Senators Ramon " Bong" Revilla Jr., Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada along with 35 others charged in connection with the pork barrel scam.

The three senators have previously been charged with plunder before the Office of the Ombudsman.

House independent minority bloc leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, also a lawyer, said de Lima's move is premature.

" That is not legal. It is premature. The cases are still with the Ombudsman and are yet to be filed in the court which is the Sandiganbayan. Why are they in such a hurry? Why preempt the court?" Romualdez, a partymate of Revilla under the LakasChristian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), told reporters.

De Lima cited Article III Section 6 of the Constitution that allows the government to curtail a person's right to travel in the interest of national security.

She also cited the Philippine Passport Act of 1996, which empowers the Foreign Affairs secretary or any authorized consular officer to withdraw or cancel a passport due to national security.

The same law provides only three grounds for the cancellation of a Philippine passport: when the holder is a fugitive from justice; when the holder has been convicted of a criminal offense, provided that the passport may be restored after service of sentence; or when a passport was acquired fraudulently or tampered with.

"What they are doing is prosecution by press release. The DOJ Secretary should be more circumspect in her powers and follow the process instead of immediately jumping the gun which is unnecessary," Romualdez added.

Dasmarinas City Representative Elpidio Barzaga Jr., a stalwart of the National Unity Party which is allied with the Aquino administration, stressed that there is no legal basis for De Lima's request.

" That's premature. The preliminary investigatiom has not even started before the Ombudsman. As such, there is no sufficient factual and legal basis to cancel the passports of Senators Enrile, Estrada and Revilla. To hold them would render their constitutional right to travel illusory," Barzaga said.