MANILA, (PNA) — Justice Secretary Leila M. De Lima Monday said there is no stopping Senator Jinggoy Estrada from going to the United States despite the Department of Justice’s move to cancel his passport.
Estrada, together with Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., and 34 others have been included in the DOJ’s request to the Department of Foreign Affairs to cancel their passports due to their alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam.
“There being no action yet on our request for passport cancellation, I see no impediment for Sen. Jinggoy’s announced trip especially so that it is accompanied by a publicly declared undertaking to return,” De Lima said in a text message to reporters.
However, De Lima took a jab at House independent minority bloc leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez who said De Lima’s move at cancelling passports of those implicated in the pork barrel scam is premature.
Romualdez also said the DOJ’s move implies arbitrariness and a persecution that is wanting of any legal and factual basis.
On the other hand, De Lima said “that’s not the case here. The NBI’s findings are clear and convincing enough.”
“We don’t have to go thru a media blitz to prove a point or for the people to get interested in the burning issues of the day,” De Lima said.
She added that not only the media but the entire public are interested in anything and everything about the pork barrel scam.