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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Drug lords face probe inside NBP

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ORIENTAL Mindoro Rep. Rey Umali said Sunday hearings could be conducted inside the New Bilibid Prison to question the inmates on the proliferation of illegal drugs there during the stint of Senator Leila de Lima as Justice secretary.

“I’m not discounting the possibility of conducting it in the prison premises,” said Umali, chairman of the House committee on justice.

He said his committee would not spare De Lima and would summon her, her alleged ex-lover Ronnie Dayan, and the drug lords in jail to determine if public officials had benefited from the drug money from the illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary.

He told dzBB radio that the House might conduct its probe inside the NBP “for security reasons.”

Umali said the House committee on justice led by then Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas held hearings inside the NBP on the allegations of special treatment to high-profile prisoners.

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But he said it would be risky to bring the drug lords to Congress for questioning. He said it was necessary to ask them to unmask who among the government officials had been protecting them.

He said his committee might begin its hearings on the issue on the third week of September after getting clearance from Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. 

Before the hearing, Umali said, Congress should first ask the Justice department to familiarize the panel members on the situation in the NBP. 

 President Rodrigo Duterte has accused De Lima of being linked to the illegal drug trade when she was Justice secretary, but De Lima has denied it. 

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