MANILA, Philippines – Detained Senator Leila de Lima denounced the acquittal of Janet Lim Napoles in a serious illegal detention case, as she maintained that the alleged pork barrel scam mastermind should not be made state witness.

De Lima, former justice secretary who prosecuted Napoles, called the Court of Appeals (CA) acquittal a “disturbing development.” She noted that the Duterte administration was known to enter into “exchange deals with convicted criminals.” (READ: Calida on Napoles acquittal: ‘Justice prevailed’)

De Lima has long said that the Duterte administration would use Napoles against her, which she still believes to date. Napoles earlier accused the senator of extorting money from her in connection with her illegal detention case but De Lima had repeatedly denied this.

There are now overtures that Napoles would be a state witness, as implied by her lawyer. But De Lima opposed such plans.

“Let me be clear about this. No1, Napoles was not made a state witness in the PDAF scam cases because she was the MOST GUILTY. Number 2, when we asked her to identify legislators, she asked us instead who among the senators and congressmen we wanted included in her PDAF list of clients.” De Lima said.

“That is when I knew that Napoles cannot be relied upon and is only too willing to fabricate her own testimony to save her skin at the expense of innocent senators and congressmen,” she added.

Napoles’ list, according to De Lima, had no documented evidence or credible witnesses. What the Aquino government used was the list of Benhur Luy and the other whistleblowers.

De Lima also said Napoles would be used to “blackmail and threaten” opposition lawmakers.

Appeal to courts

De Lima also appealed to the judiciary to fight the executive’s bullying. She said dictatorship starts when there is no longer an “independent judiciary.”

“My appeal to the courts, the judges, and justices is not to allow themselves to be bullied by the President into issuing unjust judgments. Like any bully, this one will have his just desserts. And when that time comes, all his collaborators, whether from the legislative, executive or judiciary, will be remembered by their names,” De Lima said in a statement on Tuesday.

“What worries me more is the possibility of the judiciary succumbing to Malacañang pressures. The moment justices of the courts succumb to Malacañang pressures, we also lose the remaining bulwark of our democracy,” she added.

The detained senator added “justices” are called such as “they are expected to give justice, especially when there is so much injustice around us. They are not prostitutes to be disrobed inside the bedrooms of Malacañang.”

President Rodrigo Duterte, in February, declared support for the recommendation of Solicitor General Jose Calida to acquit Napoles. (READ: SolGen moves to acquit Napoles in Luy detention case) – Rappler.com