De Lima's arraignment postponed anew

MANILA, Philippines — The camp of detained Sen. Leila De Lima slammed the Department of Justice's move to amend the charges against her, from illegal drug trading to conspiracy to commit drug trade.

On Friday morning, De Lima and his former aide Ronnie Dayan arrived at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court to attend their scheduled arraignment.

However, the court once again postponed the arraignment to a later date, particularly on May 18. This is to first resolve De Lima's motion opposing the court's decision to admit the amendment of charges against her.

De Lima's lawyer, Filibon Tacardon, said in an interview that if the DOJ wants to file a different charge, a new investigation should be conducted.

He explained: "What they first filed says that the accused was part of the drug trading. Conspiracy to commit drug trade, meanwhile, states that the accused conspired so when the inmates will be trading drugs."

"We don't even know if the drug transaction happened, or what were the drugs traded—were they regulated or illegal?" Tacardon said in Filipino.

He added that the two charges are very different from each other, and a separate preliminary investigation should be conducted if the state prosecutors are indicting De Lima on conspiracy to commit drug charges, instead.

In February 2017, De Lima, one of the most vocal critics of President Rodrigo Duterte, was indicted on three counts of drug trading, a violation of Section 5 of the Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

State prosecutors, led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong, later moved to amend the Information or charge sheet to accuse De Lima of violating Section 26 of RA 9165, or "attempt or conspiracy" to commit drug trading.

De Lima has been detained at the police headquarters in Camp Crame since February last year, following the warrant of arrest issued by the Muntinlupa court.

She has assailed the legality of her arrest before the Supreme Court, which ruled that her arrest was constitutional in November 2017.

Her team appealed the high court's decision, but the SC has yet to act on her motion for reconsideration.