AN IMMIGRATION Lookout Bulletin Order has been issued against Senator Leila de Lima and five other individuals implicated in the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.
In a two-page memorandum, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II ordered the Bureau of Immigration to monitor the movements, itineraries or whereabouts of personalities who have been named by President Rodrigo Duterte as involved in the proliferation of illegal drug trade inside the national penitentiary.
The order also covers De Lima’s former driver-body guard Ronnie Dayan, former Justice undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, former Bureau of Corrections chief Franklin Bucayu, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission Executive Director Reginald Villasanta, and De Lima’s former security aide Joenel Sanchez.
Aguirre said the order was issued upon the recommendation of the National Bureau of Investigation, which is currently building up a case against De Lima and the others for their alleged role in the illegal drugs trade in the NBP.
Aguirre ordered Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente to disseminate the details of the order and to instruct immigration
officers to be on alert for the said individuals should they pass through the immigration counters in any of the country’s international airports and seaports.
Aguirre also said De Lima and the five others should be prevented from leaving the country if they do not have a corresponding travel authority from their heads of office.
Aguirre has accused De Lima of tolerating the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the NBP as a way of raising campaign funds for her successful run at the Senate.
The Justice department later issued another lookout bulletin order for Mark Noemin Adricula, Warren Cristobal and Jose Adrian Dera.
Cristobal was previously identified by President Duterte as the new lover of De Lima after Dayan, while Dera is allegedly a nephew and security aide of De Lima who played a role in a supposed abduction of the niece of high-profile NBP inmate Peter Co.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said the lookout bulletin was merely a reporting system. If a person on the list tries to leave the country, it’s reported to a central database.
“That is the only meaning of that,” Pimentel said, noting that a senator does not need the consent of the Senate leadership to leave on a private trip.
“If it is an official trip, she should seek the permission of the Senate because she is carrying the name of the Senate,” he said.
In a text message, Senator Risa Hontiveros said the lookout bulletin unduly criminalizes De Lima, which was “unnecessary” since no case has been filed against her in court.
“While the order does not prevent Senator Leila De Lima from leaving the country, it unduly criminalizes her. It gives the impression that Senator De Lima is already a person of interest, worse, a suspect to a crime, when in fact, no charges have been filed against her nor was she convicted of any,” Hontiveros said.
