VITALIANO Aguirre II has listed the arrest of Senator Leila De Lima as one of his achievements as Secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ).
He also listed as accomplishments the raids conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), an agency under the DOJ, in a casino in Pampanga that led to the arrest of over 1,300 Chinese nationals.
Aguirre also counts as his accomplishment the deployment of elite personnel of the police Special Action Force to replace the Bureau of Corrections guards at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).
"Unang-una when we changed the Bucor (Bureau of Corrections) personnel by SAF personnel on July 20, 20 days after we assumed office. Pangalawa yung raid sa Fontana resort dahil sa kanilang illegal alliens, nakahuli tayo ng 1,316 [aliens]," he said.
DOJ data showed that the 26 "oplan galugad" operations conducted by SAF at the state penitentiary yielded 11,462 contrabands.
In relation to President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, Aguirre noted the NBI's seizure of P6 billion worth of illegal drugs last December.
He claimed that the more than 890 kilograms of shabu confiscated was "the biggest haul in the country's history."
Asked if the indictment of De Lima, his predecessor at the DOJ, was included in the DOJ's list of accomplishments, Aguirre said yes.
"Because of what we did in Bucor, we were able to charge the past officials of the Bucor and the DOJ headed by Secretary De Lima," he said.
The DOJ last February filed three separate drug charges against De Lima at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court over her alleged participation in the proliferation of the illegal drug trading at the penitentiary.
Former Bucor director Franklin Bucayu and former Bucor Officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos were likewise charged for violating the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Aguirre added that through the DOJ's efforts, the Philippines maintained its Tier 1 ranking in the 2017 United States Trafficking in Persons report for its efforts against human trafficking.
A total of 231 trafficking victims have been rescued and 40 suspected traffickers were arrested since Aguirre assumed office, he said. (VoxPop Philippines)
