Roque urges De Lima to resign, calls Senate to unseat her if she won't
Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque urged the Senate to oust Senator Leila De Lima if she refuses to resign over accusations that she prevented her former driver, Ronnie Dayan, from testifying in the House of Representatives.
The lawmakers slammed De Lima after Dayan’s daughter Hannah Mae read out alleged text messages from De Lima named “Tita Lei” who urged Dayan to snub the House hearings.
“If this lady senator will not voluntarily resign from her post after this revelation, I hope our colleagues in the Senate will protect the integrity of Congress of the Philippines,” Roque said.
Reacting to Dayan’s disclosure about De Lima’s order to go into hiding, Roque acknowledged that, while the House may have the power to cite the senator in contempt, “we probably will not do so out of inter-parliamentary courtesy.”
However, he hoped “our colleagues in the Senate realize the seriousness” of “a sitting senator preventing an appearance in a legislative investigation as part of concealing the truth.”
“Aside from condonations from the lady senator that she accused the committee of being a kangaroo court, only to find out today that she herself persuaded this witness not to appear and heed earlier invitations and summons,” Roque said.
“I appealed to our colleagues in the Senate that although we have the power to cite her in contempt, we probably will not because of her interparliamentary courtesy. I hope our colleagues will realize the seriousness we have today, that a sitting senator prevented the appearance of a key witness in a legislative investigation as part of concealing the truth,” he added.
The inquiry into the drug trade in the national penitentiary was initiated soon after Duterte publicly accused De Lima of receiving millions of pesos from convicted drug lords to fund her election campaign. He also exposed De Lima’s affair with Dayan
Source: Inquirer, ABS-CBN
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