De Lima to Sotto: Don't blame me for Panamanian official's flight

MANILA, Philippines - Justice Secretary Leila de Lima told Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III yesterday not to blame her for allowing a Panamanian embassy officer, accused of raping a Filipina teenager, to leave the country Friday night.

“I think it’s very unfair to blame me... I hope we take caution in issuing that kind of statement. It’s just not fair to make,” she told reporters in an ambush interview.

De Lima said she should not be blamed for not issuing watchlist order or securing a hold departure order that could have prevented Erick Bairnals Shcks from leaving the country. She said the Supreme Court has issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Department of Justice from implementing Circular 41, pending the resolution of a case filed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after the DOJ prevented her from leaving the country.

Sotto said he was aghast over De Lima’s statement that there is nothing the Philippine government can do since Shcks has diplomatic immunity.

The DOJ chief also cited the validity of the certification issued by Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) granting Shcks diplomatic immunity for the crime of rape under Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

De Lima said she expected the DFA to convince the Panamanian government to waive Shcks’ immunity.

Sen. Loren Legarda, chairwoman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs, said it is “regrettable that the Panamanian government did not heed the Philippine government’s request to waive the immunity” of Shcks.

She said declaring Shcks persona non grata is a recourse our country is allowed to take under the Vienna Convention, though she expressed hope that the Panamanian government would conduct its own investigation of the allegations against Shcks. “We expect that of a country that shares our belief in the respect for human rights,” Legarda said.