Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has admitted she thought of resigning.
That would have meant surrender to those who want her position to those who are lusting for it. De Lima has decided she will not grant those people their wish.
She has been persuaded not to resign even as the decision of the President to disregard the recommendations of the Incident Investigation and Review Committee on the Aug. 23 hostage debacle that she headed was something that was not easy for her to take.
De Lima said IIRC members knew that they were a recommendatory body but she could not help commenting that she did not agree with the exoneration of recently retired chief of the Philippine National Police Jesus Verzosa.
“Although he has retired already and even if it’s not in the [hostage crisis] manual, the IIRC believes that as chief PNP he should have monitored the hostage crisis continually and intervened when the situation became problematic,” de Lima said in a TV interview.