Chief Presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo declared on Friday that the law of Karma has finally caught up with Senator Leila de Lima after using her office in effecting the arrest and detention of critics of the previous administration.
De Lima was arrested Friday morning on the basis of a warrant issued by Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court-Branch 204 Judge Juanita Guerrero for protecting illegal drug trade at the National Bilibid Prisons.
In his speech before delegates of Davao/General Santos-Bitung/ASEAN RORO Shipping Business Forum at the SMX Convention Center Davao City, Panelo said the senator is now reaping what she has sown years ago.
“That fits the principle of ‘what you sow is what you reap.’ She is now reaping what she has sown. She used her office in effecting the arrest and detention of the critics of the previous administration,” Panelo said.
Panelo criticized de Lima who has served as Justice secretary during the Aquino administration, for issuing “questionable” graft charges against former president and now House deputy speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The court dismissed the charges against Arroyo shortly after Duterte became president.
He also recalled that the ouster of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona which was used as a warning to judges that they would suffer the same fate if they went against the Aquino administration.
Meanwhile, the chief Presidential legal counsel denied speculations that the case was “railroaded” by President Rodrigo Duterte himself, stressing that the judiciary is a separate but equally powerful branch as the executive.
“The president, he was telling me about it yesterday, said ‘we have nothing to do with that’. There is a claim there is pressure from the government. There can never be pressure.,” he said.
He added, if the senator is really innocent, she should have filed a counter affidavit to one of the three cases filed against her which in turn made it easier for the judge to determine a probable cause and issue an arrest warrant.
“If politically motivated, there should have been no charges filed against her. The problem, she opted not to file a counter-affidavit,” he said.
The chief presidential legal counsel added that the government upholds rule of law as he pointed out out the judge actually took three days to study the documents filed against the senator before coming up with probable cause when it only takes one to two hours to study other heinous charges.
The president, a lawyer himself, is one who is outraged by violations of the law or by any irregularity in the government.
“He is one outraged by any abuse of human rights. He is known to be incorruptible. He has the political will. That’s why, he focuses on one thing. Everything he is asked, he said ‘there is only one platform of government I have. What the law is, you obey’,” he stressed.
