THE Senate President has requested the Philippine National Police (PNP) to allow detained Senator Leila M. De Lima to hold committee hearings within the premises of the PNP headquarters where the senator is confined on drug charges.
Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III wrote a letter to PNP Chief Director-General Oscar D. Albayalde “to formally request the Philippine National Police (PNP) to allow detained Sen. Leila De Lima to exercise her functions as an elected senator of the country through the conduct of hearings on pending measures to the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare, and Rural Development (Committee for brevity) — a committee which she chairs — inside the premises of the PNP Custodial Center.”
Mr. Sotto added that, as Senate leader, he is giving Ms. De Lima “full authority to discharge her duties as chair of the committee, particularly to conduct and personally preside over its hearings.”
This is similar, Mr. Sotto said, to what had been applied in the case of Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV when the latter was in detention during the Arroyo administration.
The reason for the Senate President’s request is so the committee’s pending measures in the Senate “will be given an opportunity to be heard and deliberated on by the Philippine Senate,” Mr. Sotto said.
The pending bills for consideration of the Committee, “if passed into law, will be beneficial to all the Filipinos in general and will give the marginalized sectors their needed boost,” he also said.
The pending bills Mr. Sotto cited are as follows: “1.) Public Solicitation Act; 2.) National Rotary Day, February 23 of Every Year, 3.) Magna Carta of the Poor, 4.) Magna Carta of Day Care Workers, 5.) Emergency Volunteer Protection Act, 6.) Social Welfare and Development Agencies Act, and 7.) Rural Employment Assistance Program Act.”
“Thus, timely holding of a Committee hearing is vital,” he said.
Senator Francis N. Pangilinan, Ms. De Lima’s ally in the opposition Liberal Party, said for his part: “Our gratitude and support are with Senate President Vicente Sotto III for formally seeking the participation of Senator Leila de Lima in hearings lodged before her committee.”
“It is right and just for Sen. De Lima to be allowed to perform her duties as a member of the legislature. Despite her unjust incarceration, Sen. De Lima has expressed her desire to carry out her functions as a lawmaker and help craft laws beneficial to the people,” Mr. Pangilinan also said in his statement. — G.M. Cortez

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