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Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima and Fr. Flavie Villanueva file a perjury case at the Department of Justice yesterday against lawyer Levi Baligod and 18 mostly former Marines.
EDD GUMBAN
MANILA, Philippines — New complaints of perjury and cyberlibel have been filed against lawyer Levi Baligod and the 18 mostly former Marines who claimed to have delivered luggage and paper bags containing billions of pesos in cash to prominent politicians.
The complaints were filed by ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, Ramon Magsaysay awardee Fr. Flavie Villanueva and Bureau of Corrections chief Gregorio Catapang.
“It’s a lie that I received any amount, whether P30 million to P70 million, that I received a paper bag
containing cash is another lie. They’re all lies – allegations that I received money placed inside a suitcase, paper bag or whatever container,” De Lima told reporters yesterday at the Department of Justice where she and Villanueva filed the perjury complaint.
In joining De Lima, Villanueva decried efforts by the 18 men and their lawyer Baligod to besmirch the reputation of Arnold Janssen Kalinga Center and Program Paghilom, which are helping the families of victims of the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war.
Catapang lodged his complaint separately. The cyber libel complaints were filed earlier yesterday at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
“They continue to belie the testimonies of victims who are again being victimized by accusations aiming to discredit their true testimonies,” Villanueva said in Filipino.
De Lima said the camp of former president Rodrigo Duterte could be responsible for perpetuating the suitcase controversy, echoing earlier pronouncements from former senator Antonio Trillanes IV who, along with National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, also filed cyber libel and perjury complaints against the 18 ex-soldiers and their lawyer.
“Stop, no more please. Stop your lies against me,” De Lima said, addressing the Dutertes.
De Lima, former justice secretary and senator imprisoned during the Duterte administration on trumped up drug charges, also appealed to the former soldiers’ conscience.
De Lima explained that Baligod’s previous remark of “oversight” in including her on the list of lawmakers who received cash-stuffed suitcases – which he said in previous media interviews – was the basis of the libel complaint.
Aside from suing the 18 ex-soldiers for perjury and cyber libel, Catapang also asked the Supreme Court to disbar Baligod for possible violation of Section 38, Canon II of the Code of Professional Responsibility which prohibits lawyers from “not knowingly or maliciously posting, sharing, uploading or otherwise disseminating false or unverified statements, claims or committing any other act of disinformation.”
He assailed Baligod and his clients for accusing him of delivering eight suitcases supposedly containing funds from “ghost” BuCor projects, as well as taking away funds used for meals of detainees.
“I’d say, there are no bad soldiers, only bad commanding officers. They may have been just waylaid and forced to testify against me,” Catapang said of the 18 former soldiers.
