House gives Leila 72 hours to explain

MANILA, Philippines – House leaders yesterday gave Sen. Leila de Lima 72 hours to explain why she should not be cited for contempt for preventing her former driver and lover Ronnie Dayan from attending the House hearing on the illegal drug trade at the national penitentiary.

House committee on justice chairman Rep. Reynaldo Umali and Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas served a show cause order for De Lima before Senate Secretary Lutgardo Barbo before noon yesterday.

Umali said the House would not issue an arrest warrant against the senator, which was agreed upon by senators and congressmen during a meeting on Monday night.

He said the non-issuance of an arrest warrant was meant to “avoid confrontation between the House and the Senate lawmakers, and in observance of inter-chamber courtesy.”

De Lima will not be arrested even if she will not respond to the show cause order, but a complaint will be filed against her before the Senate ethics committee, he said.

This developed as De Lima refused to honor the order, saying the House has no jurisdiction over her.

“I am not honoring any process from them because I am not recognizing the jurisdiction of that House committee on justice over me,” she said.

De Lima said she would not seek help from her colleagues in the Senate and that she is ready to accept the consequences of defying the House order.

In the show cause order, the former justice secretary was asked to explain why she exerted undue influence on Dayan and directed him to defy a valid coercive process issued by the House committee.

Dayan and his daughter Hannah Mae testified before the House committee that De Lima instructed her former lover to ignore the inquiry and continue hiding.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez described De Lima’s acts as obstruction of justice and “undue interference” in the House proceedings being conducted in aid of legislation.

Fariñas and Umali said the committee would be constrained to take appropriate action, which may include citing the senator in contempt as provided under House rules on procedure.

De Lima defended her text message to Dayan’s daughter, saying it was mere “advice” so as not to blow things out of proportion. 

Umali said the House has three options for De Lima. He said they could file a complaint against her before the Senate ethics committee, a criminal complaint for violation of the Revised Penal Code and a disbarment case for having an illicit affair with her former driver.

He said De Lima might have been merely “advising” Dayan when she sent the text message to his daughter, but that was “already inducement.”

Fariñas said he would file a complaint before the Senate ethics committee next week.

Avoid confrontation

Senate Majority Leader and ethics committee chairman Vicente Sotto III said senators and congressmen agreed to have the show cause order addressed to De Lima alone and not to the Senate as an institution.

“We want to avoid a confrontation between the Senate and the House,” Sotto said, adding enforcing arrest on a sitting senator will have to be approved by the entire Senate, and that the House, on its own, cannot arrest De Lima.

Sotto clarified De Lima was not being left alone even as he stressed the issue did not originate from the Senate as an institution.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who attended the meeting, said House lawmakers understand that compelling an incumbent senator to attend hearings and to try to arrest her would be unprecedented.

Lacson said the Senate and the House agreed it would be better for Fariñas or Umali to file a complaint against De Lima before the Senate ethics committee, the Supreme Court or a regional trial court.

“So all’s well that ends well. We will handle whatever disciplinary action is needed in case the evidence against De Lima is strong,” he said.

For Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon, the Senate as a whole should take up the show cause order issued by the House against De Lima.

“This is not only an issue of Senator De Lima. This is an issue of the whole Senate as an institution,” Drilon said.

He said he agreed with De Lima in her refusal to honor the show cause order “because it has implications on the Senate as an institution.”

Drilon said the House is trying to set a precedent by issuing a show cause order against a senator and as such, this should be taken by the entire Senate.

He said the Senate secretary should refer the show cause order to the plenary as part of its regular order of business.

“It is a novel issue, that’s why the action of the Senate becomes a precedent,” Drilon said.

The Senate will take up next week the order of the Office of the Ombudsman to dismiss Sen. Joel Villanueva and the complaint against De Lima.

Sotto said he has scheduled the meetings on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

On Villanueva’s dismissal, Sotto said he would take up the recommendation prepared by the Senate legal team with the members of the committee on rules.

Villanueva was ordered dismissed for his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.

For De Lima’s case, they would resume the meeting, which had been deferred several times due to questions on jurisdiction, now that it received new information from one of the complainants.

Two complaints have been filed against De Lima before the ethics committee by lawyer Abelardo de Jesus and a certain Ronillo Pulmano.

The two complaints referred to De Lima’s alleged misdeeds before she became senator.