De Lima sues Guevarra, Aguirre over 'illegal' admission of inmates to WPP

MANILA, Philippines (Updated 6:15 p.m.) — Sen. Leila De Lima has filed a case against Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra for allegedly violating the law when the government presented inmates convicted of crimes of “moral turpitude” as witnesses against her.

De Lima filed a 22-page complaint against Guevarra and his predecessor, former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, for “illegally admitting as state witnesses into the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Program criminals already convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude in violation of Sec. 10 (f) of Republic Act 6981.”

The senator pointed out that the prosecution has listed 13 witnesses who are convicted of crimes "moral turpitude," which are defined in Supreme Court jurisprudnce as crimes that include robbery, murder, homicide, extortion and violations of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

The senator also accused Aguirre and Guevarra of committing “the felony of dereliction of duty in the prosecution of offenses...under Art. 208 of the RPC while also violating...the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.” The cited clause provides that government officials give any private party unwarranted benefits.

State prosecutors filed the criminal charges against De Lima—and subsequently said that the inmate-witnesses would be under state protection—while Aguirre was Justice secretary.

Guevarra took the helm of the DOJ in April.

In response to the complaint, the Justice secretary stressed he was not yet in charge when a panel of prosecutors resolved the criminal complaints against De Lima.

"The existence of probable case was determined by the investigating panel. As I said, I wasn’t even at the DOJ yet when the criminal charges were filed against Senator De Lima and the others," he said.

"As far as I know, no such convicted persons have been used as state witnesses against Sen. De Lima. They are just ordinary witnesses," he added.

But De Lima said that Guevarra should face charges because he has already been notified that of the convicts’ inclusion to the WPP but “he has refused and is unwilling to do so.”

De Lima, a former Justice chief herself, also accused Guevarra of gross misconduct and negligence for failing to prosecute the witnesses “despite their sworn testimonies....that they committed illegal drug trading inside the New Bilibid Prison.”

The complaint was filed last week but a copy was made public only on Tuesday.

The senator has earlier raised this point at the Muntinlupa court—where she is being tried for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading—but Judge Lorna Navarro-Domingo of Muntinlupa RTC Branch 206 junked her motion.

RELATED: De Lima asks Muntinlupa judge to recuse self from drug case

Navarro has recused from handling the case earlier on Tuesday.