De Lima names DOJ exec to Palace cluster

MANILA, Philippines - Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, in a department order, designated Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar as the DOJ’s representative to the Malacañang Cabinet cluster on good governance and anti-corruption.

With his latest designation, Salazar now sits in all three Cabinet clusters where the DOJ is a member. The other two clusters are economic development and security.

Upon arriving from a state visit to China earlier this month, De Lima said in a press briefing that she trusts in Salazar’s competence and integrity. She denied talk that Salazar was relieved as undersecretary in charge of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) because of the involvement of one of his close-in security detail in a human trafficking attempt. The security details of the undersecretaries are provided by the DOJ.

“I confirm that I issued a department order revoking the previous issuances designating him as undersecretary in charge for BI but I categorically deny the insinuations that I did so because of the involvement of one of his security in a trafficking incident,” she said.

She said Salazar asked to be relieved as early as July 11 to give the then newly appointed BI commissioners and executive director independence in running the affairs of the bureau and for him to concentrate on the bigger task of being the undersecretary in charge of the Inter Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT). The chronology of events that took place would show that the relief of Salazar as has no relation to the bodyguard incident, De Lima said.

IACAT has steered the country out of the human trafficking index watch list of the United States. For two consecutive years, the country was in the Tier 2 watch list and a third listing would have meant a downgrade into Tier 3 and the loss of some $700 million to 800 million in aid from the US.