Members of the House of Representatives’ committee on justice voted to do away with the recommendation to press charges against Senator Leila de Lima for allegedly allowing drugs to spread inside the national penitentiary.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, the committee chairman,. adopted the 17-page report on House Resolution 105 which Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez authored investigating the spread of illegal drugs in the National Bilibid Prisons when de Lima was justice secretary.

“This will form part of the records of the House. We are ready to defend it in plenary,” Umali said.

The House leadership wants to craft a bill to amend the law creating the Bureau of Corrections and overhaul the entire prison system. This will prevent a repeat of unabated drug trade inside the prison facility.

Inmates’ revelations during the hearings that the prison became the country’s main drug center where 75 percent of illegal drugs are traded have convinced officials of the House to restore capital punishment for heinous crimes.

“We hope to complete this inquiry in 28 days, the shortest and fastest in the history of Philippine Congress under Speaker Alvarez,” Umali remarked prior to the voting. DMS