De Lima admits Truth body as ‘toothless’

By Ampie Galpo

JUSTICE Secretary leila de lima yesterday admitted that the soon-to-becreated truth Commission is "toothless" since it is only fact-finding and recommendatory in nature.

De lima said the commission’s mandate is to look for evidence against government officials implicated in graft, and if evidence is suf- ficient, recommend the filing of charges either to the Office of the Ombudsman or Department of Justice (DoJ).

Amidst the issues, she admitted that the executive order creating the body tasked to investigate irregularities of the past administration is yet to be issued. In his first State of the Nation address (SoNa) President Benigno aquino iii said the commission will be soon created to go after public officials who prominently were dragged in the controversies.

Among the controversies are ‘Hello Garci’ scandal, fertilizer scam, the botched ZTE-NBN Broadband deal, and even the Jose Pidal bank account to which former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo is being implicated.

De lima said her department still awaits the order’s official release to determine exactly what the DOJ will do to cases not covered by the body’s investigation.

The other day, Sen. Joker arroyo said the truth Commission will fail because it will suffer from legal infirmity as it does not have the force of the law.

Arroyo said he wondered why former Supreme Court Justice Hilario Davide, Jr., appointed by Aquino to chair the commission, had not commented about the legal flaw.

The lawmaker explained that the truth Commission of the aquino today is much different from the Presidential Commission on Good Government, which is tasked to go after the Marcos family ill-gotten wealth, created by her mother through an executive order.