MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila De Lima on Tuesday assured the public that she will not intervene in the cases involving officials of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC).
De Lima said that the cases against several INC officials will undergo the regular process.
"Kapag preliminary investigation pa lang, NPS (National Prosecution Service) pa lang. Hindi ho nakikialam diyan ang Secretary of Justice kase dadaan yan sa proseso," De Lima said in an interview with ABS-CBN News.
The Justice secretary added that she will only monitor and give proper guidance to the case.
De Lima stressed that she is not paying special attention to the INC case as she monitors all sensitive and high profile cases.
"That's not special attention and I consider it as part of my job," De Lima said.
She added that she gives guidance to the Department of Justice's NPS to assure that high-profile cases are resolved with utmost fairness.
"I don't dictate on the NPS nor the prosecutor general dahil nga po pag mga ganyan na simula pa lang ng proseso, complaint for preliminary investigation, that is supposed to be subject to the independent and objective evaluation by the prosecutors concerned so the Secretary of Justice cannot interfere, cannot dictate on how the case is disposed of by the prosecutor," she said.
Expelled INC minister Isaias Samson Jr. earlier filed a serious illegal detention complaint against members of the religious sect's Sanggunian.
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