De Lima cries ‘harassment’ over graft raps

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Wednesday cried foul over the filing of a graft and misconduct complaint against her over the controversial deportation of 14 Taiwanese nationals to mainland China last February. Speaking to reporters, De Lima once again defended her decision to have the Taiwanese deported to China instead of Taiwan, which protested the Philippines’ move. The Bureau of Immigration, which ordered the deportation, is under the Department of Justice. "I think cases like that are harassment, nuisance suits. I am not doing anything wrong. What I'm doing are those that I have to do. So there are times [I] have to make tough decisions, but no one can accuse me of intentional harm or damage or prejudice to anybody," De Lima said. The deportation row strained economic and diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Taipei later accepted Manila's apology. Last Tuesday, lawyer Reynaldo Bagatsing filed with the Office of the Ombudsman an Urgent Request for Investigation, accusing De Lima, National Bureau of Investigation director Magtanggol Gatdula, and former BI officer-in-charge Ronaldo Ledesma of abusing their authorities over the alleged illegal summary deportation of the 14 Taiwanese. The respondents were accused of violating Republic Act 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) and as well as RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act). The 14 Taiwanese nationals and 10 other Chinese were arrested in December last year for their alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar criminal activity in China using the Internet and telecommunications devices. Beijing has also issued standing arrest warrants against them. Because they were unable to present authentic travel documents, they were deemed undesirable aliens by the Philippine government. The Philippines then deported them to China on Feb. 2 even as the Philippine Court of Appeals ordered the BI to produce before the court the living bodies of six of the 14 Taiwanese. According to Bagatsing, the Taiwanese nationals were lawfully admitted to the Philippines because they were previously issued visas by the Manila Economic Cultural Office (MECO), but they were summarily deported as undocumented aliens. “It is the contention…that there was no legal basis to cause the arrests of Taiwanese nationals for an alleged violation of RA 8484 following service of a highly questionable and illegally procured search warrant as admitted by no less than the Secretary of Justice, Leila de Lima," Bagatsing said. RA 8484 is also known as the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998, which the Taiwanese allegedly violated by committing telecommunications fraud. - KBK, GMA News