Palace: De Lima disbarment case a ‘demolition job’

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

MANILA – Malacanang on Tuesday said the disbarment case filed against Justice Secretary Leila de Lima is a “demolition job”.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said while the Palace respects the case filed against de Lima, it is standing by the decision of Justice chief when she disallowed former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to seek medical treatment abroad.

“We remain in support of the decision taken by the Secretary of Justice and we believe that the disbarment suit is a demolition job Secretary de Lima to deter her from doing her job,” Lacierda said.

He added that the Palace believed that de Lima would be able to defend herself properly in the disbarment case.

Lawyer Ricardo Rivera, who denied connection to the Arroyos, filed a disbarment case against de Lima on Monday for defying the Supreme Court’s order that allowed Arroyo to leave the country and seek treatment for bone ailment abroad.

In his petition, Rivera cited that “instead of promoting confidence in the country's justice system, the DOJ chief led in orchestrating protest against the integrity of the entire judiciary”.

In defense of de Lima, Lacierda said the Justice secretary simply exhausted all legal remedies to bar President Arroyo from leaving the country.

“Atty. River should be very aware that there are legal processes we have to exhaust. What Secretary de Lima did was to exhaust legal remedies and if you are practicing lawyer you would realize that what we have done so far is to used that avenues to exhaust legal remedies,” he said. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)