Former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday guaranteed that due process will guide the House of Representatives as it investigates Senator Leila de Lima for the alleged proliferation of drugs when she was still justice secretary.
During a press conference, Arroyo was asked to react on the resolution filed by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez calling for an inquiry into allegations that De Lima tolerated drug syndicates inside the national penitentiary in exchange for campaign funds from drug lords.
Arroyo, who was prosecuted by the Aquino administration through De Lima, said "I'm very confident that due process is going to be pursued unlike the time when I was being persecuted."
De Lima dared to refute drug charge in House probe
Arroyo was incarcerated for plunder over the alleged misuse of the P366-million intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). The Supreme Court (SC) ended her four-year hospital arrest last July when it junked the charges against her.
The lawmaker earlier told ABS-CBN News that the use of criminal justice system for political persecution must end with her.
"Let me be the last victim of persecution during the justice system," she said. "A lot of injustice -- to begin with the detention itself -- was unjust... What I learned from that is this whole thing of political power to persecute political enemies, that must stop."
De Lima, for her part, said she would not testify in Congress, invoking inter-parliamentary courtesy.
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