Senate President Vicente Sotto III said jailed Sen. Leila de Lima won’t be able to join Senate sessions via videoconferencing because of legal precedents and the impossibility of installing gadgets in her jail cell.
Sotto told radio station DWIZ on Saturday that installation of an internet connection, telephones and other gadgets were not allowed by the Custodial Center of the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame.
He also pointed out that when he was minority leader in the previous Congress, his request to allow senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada, who were jailed because of the pork barrel scam, was denied by the majority, whose members are now in the minority.
“Ang problema kasi diyan, una, merong Supreme Court decision tungkol diyan kaya yung binabanggit nung kampo ni Senator de Lima tungkol doon, parang lihis doon sa original na sinasabi ng Supreme Court. Hindi lang sa case niya, kundi kay Congressman Jalosjos, at sa iba pa,” Sotto said, referring to former Zamboanga del Norte representative Romeo Jalosjos, who had been convicted of statutory rape.
“Pangalawa, nung ako ay Minority Leader nung 16th Congress, yan ang hinihiling ko, kahit Facebook man lang maapagparticipate si Senator Enrile, Senator Estrada, Senator Revilla … eh in-out-vote nila ako at ang dahilan na sinabi sa akin, ang dahilan na sinasabi ko ngayon na hindi pwede,” he added.
“So sana, pinayagan nila ako noon, para ngayon ay malakas ang loob kong sabihin na pwede.”
De Lima, a former justice secretary and human rights commissioner, has been in jail since February 2017, on drug-related charges that she maintains were trumped-up to silence her criticism of the Duterte government’s war on drugs. (PressONE.ph)