New vehicles for DOJ fiscals defended

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima defended yesterday the purchase of over P33-million worth of new vehicles for her department’s top prosecutors.

In an ambush interview, De Lima said her department needed to buy new vehicles to replace decade-old ones, as repairs were getting costly.

She said funds for the vehicles, including the coasters, went through the regular bidding process.

A total of 20 new Toyota Innovas worth P17.757 million were distributed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to regional and senior prosecutors yesterday.

Lined up inside the DOJ compound, the vehicles were blessed before distribution to 15 regional prosecutors and five senior deputy state prosecutors.

The vehicles were purchased from Toyota-Makati.

Aside from the 20 vehicles, the DOJ also bought two Hino buses worth P7.36 million each.

The DOJ bought eight units of passenger vans worth P9.584 million each last March.

Earlier, De Lima had complained about lack of budget for its witness protection program office tasked to protect key witnesses in cases being handled by DOJ, including the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao massacre wherein several vital witnesses had been killed.