‘Make it hard to conceal ill-gotten wealth’ – Leila
Former Justice secretary Leila De Lima visited Cebu Daily News office. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA)
Former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said she would work for changes in the 83-year-old Revised Penal Code (RPC) if she is elected senator next year.
“We need to do away with the obsolete provisions. We have to simplify the criminal investigation process,” she said during a visit to the Cebu Daily News office yesterday.
Overhauling the penal law, she said, will be among the reforms she will champion in the upper House.
A bill was already filed in the House of Represenatives but the process to enact it into law has hardly started, said the Liberal Party candidate.
De Lima was in Cebu to interact with different sectors. She had a dialog with urban poor groups in the Pagtambayayong foundation office in Cebu City, visited media outfits and was due to attend a Christmas party of Rep. Luigi Quisumbing and his constituents in Mandaue City last night.
De Lima said she hopes to introduce legislation to address social injustice and corruption.
While she was hesitant to run for the Senate, she said she realized that there was still a “mission” to pursue if she wanted to fulfil President Aquino’s mandate to her to deliver “complete justice” for the Filipinos.
“There is so much injustice in society and people get frustrated with these things. That is why some sectors would applaud a presidential aspirant for his brand of justice. We have to remedy that.
We have to find ways to improve the delivery of justice,” she said.
De Lima, a former head of the Commission on Human Rights, was obliquely referring to Davao City Mayor Rodolfo Duterte, whose presidential bid advocates killing drug dealers and other criminals to establish order in society.
She admitted that reforms were still an uphill climb despite her five years as justice secretary.
“I have done some but not all. I have a share of successes and failures. I have seen the ills and defects, and shortcomings in the criminal justice system. I want to contribute in enhancing and reforming the justice system through legislation,” she said.
She said she wanted a “renewed offensive against corruption.”
“We need to strengthen legal mechanisms, vis-à-vis ill-gotten wealth. We have to make it hard to hide ill-gotten wealth. We need to recover that. Also, I’ve thought of paralyzing or crippling the finances of criminal syndicates,” she said.
Under her watch, the DOJ prosecuted Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon “Bong” Revilla, and Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada in connection with the pork barrel scam.
If she becomes a senator, De Lima would be a good fit for the Blue Ribbon Committee in investigating erring officials and agencies.
“I want to expand my horizons. And with my legal beackground, exposure, and experiences, it would come very handy in the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee,” she said.
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