De Lima stands by DOJ panel amid bribery raps

MANILA, Philippines - Secretary Leila de Lima rejected yesterday a call to replace Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III as supervising official of the Department of Justice (DOJ) panel on the Maguindanao massacre trial amid bribery allegations.

She said she sees no reason to grant the appeal publicly made by Maguindanao Gov. Esmail “Toto” Mangudadatu, whose wife Genalyn was among the 58 slain in the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre. 

“I’m not going to remove him (Baraan) simply because that is the demand of Gov. Toto in the absence of credible proof that there was indeed bribery… I will only replace him if he himself asks to be replaced,” she told reporters in a chance interview yesterday afternoon.

De Lima also belied the claim of Mangudadatu’s lawyer, Nena Santos, that she was informed about the alleged bribery attempt on the DOJ panel by the camp of the accused from the Ampatuan clan since December last year. 

“I don’t recall any meeting or any instance where she told me about the alleged bribe offer,” she stressed. 

An irate DOJ chief also could no longer hide her frustration over the continuing insinuations of Mangudadatu and Santos against Baraan and members of the DOJ panel of prosecutors that they have received millions in bribe money from the Ampatuans through emissaries to sabotage the case. 

“This particular case is the case of the whole country and the whole world is watching. This is not just a property of the private complainants,” she said.

 De Lima also issued a warning: “Please don’t make me choose between the private and public prosecutors, because I will side with the public prosecutors.”

She has ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to look into claims of Santos that P300 million was offered by the Ampatuans to the prosecutors and another claim by state witness Lakmudin Saliao that there was a P20-million bribe for Baraan as part of the P50-million payoff for the panel of prosecutors.

Baraan and the DOJ panel vehemently denied the allegations. In a statement, Baraan described the charges as a “complete fabrication.”