Probe sought on confusion in naming of undersecretaries

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima wants to get into the bottom of the confusion caused by the wrongful announcement of appointment of new undersecretaries of the department.

“That is something I will look into,” she told reporters when asked if she would order an investigation into the allegation of newly appointed Undersecretary Francisco Baraan that somebody within the department is sowing intrigue by releasing erroneous reports on the new appointments.

De Lima said she feels for Baraan and admitted that she was already “surprised” by the wrong report about the re-appointment by President Aquino of Undersecretary Ian Norman Dato, who has been closely identified with former President Gloria-Macapagal Arroyo.

“I understand the sentiment of Undersecretary Baraan. I also would like to know if it was just a mistake of the reporter who wrote the story or someone fed the wrong information,” she stressed.

The Justice chief believes that the controversy is worth looking into – especially since it was not the first time such a wrong feed of information happened under her watch. “This is not the first time that this happened. The photo of Undersecretary (Jose Vicente) Salazar came out in the paper. He was first on the list of midnight appointees affected by the executive order of President Noy. That was wrong because he was actually even reappointed,” she recalled.

De Lima said she would look into these incidents “because I don’t want these things to happen again in my department.” But she stressed that a possible investigation would come only after the investigation of the government on the Aug. 23 hostage incident in Manila where the hostage taker, dismissed police captain Rolando Mendoza, and eight Hong Kong Chinese tourists were killed.

De Lima was reacting to a report in The STAR over the weekend that Dato and Leah Tanodra -Armamento were appointed new undersecretaries of the department.

It was later on clarified that Armamento was appointed as replacement of Dato, and that Salazar and Baraan were re-appointed by President Aquino. Baraan was apparently offended by the story that did not mention his name.