De Lima: I won’t honor show cause order from ‘kangaroo court’

Sen. Leila de Lima on Monday said she would not honor any show cause order that the House of Representatives would issue against her.

In an interview, De Lima said she would continue snubbing the House justice committee inquiry into the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison, despite the House now taking a more aggressive stand to make her appear.

"I am just being consistent with my defiance vis-a-vis that so called House inquiry na alam ko na naman from the start na panghihiya lang sa akin. That is plain and simple kangaroo court," De Lima said.

"Certainly, I will not face them I will not honor that show cause," she stressed.

The House justice committee last week said it would issue a show cause order to De Lima for obstruction of justice when she advised her former driver-bodyguard Ronnie Dayan to hide and no longer attend the House probe, for fear that the two of them would end up "pagpi-piyestahan."

At a press briefing on Monday, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said he is ready to order De Lima’s arrest if she would not respond to the show cause order that will be issued by the chamber.

At the Senate, De Lima said she would leave it to her legal team to handle any actions taken against her by the House of Representatives.

"Kung anuman ang plano nila, whether it is show cause, whether it is arrest, whether it is ethics complaint, whether it is regular courts, or a case with the Supreme Court, hihintayin ko na lang po iyan," said De Lima.

"I will refer that to my legal team at tsaka lang po kami mag-aano ng karampatang aksyon diyan kung anong sagot at gagawin diyan," she added.

De Lima also denied claims her continued snubbing of the House investigation was disrespectful to her fellow legislators from the House of Representatives.

"Ibinabalik ko sa kanila, who's disrespecting who? Hindi ba sila? They've been disrespecting me since the start of the House inquiry. Kaya nga hindi ko iyan kinikilala iyong inquiry na iyan," said the neophyte senator and former Justice sectary.

In his testimony, Dayan also testified receiving money from alleged drug lord Kerwin Espinosa in 2014 for De Lima's senatorial campaign. In the House justice panel's earlier hearings, several Bilibid inmates-turned-witnesses accused Dayan of collecting drug money from them for De Lima, a claim denied by the former driver-bodyguard.

De Lima, for her part, has repeatedly denied all allegations against her, save for the fact that she went into a relationship with Dayan. — RSJ, GMA News