De Lima filed before the Court of Appeals a petition for review seeking to reverse the Ombudsman’s decision to dismiss her October 2018 administrative complaint accusing Guevarra for supposedly violating a law against using criminal convicts as state witnesses.
The detained senator had long questioned the Justice department’s use of convicts as witnesses against her, which included Herbert Colanggo, who was convicted for robbery with homicide; Peter Co, convicted for illegal sale and delivery of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu; and others convicted for murder, homicide and kidnap for ransom.
Under that rule, a state witness refers to a person who has been charged with an offense but is later discharged so he/she can testify. Since the convicts were not included in the complaint, they are not considered state witnesses, Guevarra argued. “If this kind of culture and thinking in the Ombudsman are allowed to fester, the constitutional office might as well be abolished for having been neutered by its very own officials,” she said in a statement Saturday.
Instead, she was told by the Ombudsman that they cannot continue with their investigation because of Guevarra’s supposed failure to issue a certification, she said.
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