De Lima moves for bail in second drug case
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila de Lima filed a motion for bail before the Muntinlupa court handling the drug case against her, the second time she is moving for provisional liberty by saying evidence against her is weak.
De Lima, through her lawyer, filed a Motion for Bail before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 where a drug case she is facing with co-accused Ronnie Dayan remains pending.
This is the second case she is facing at the same court. Like her previously filed motion at a different case, she also asserted that evidence against her is weak and, “on the contrary, the record is replete with evidence presented by the Prosecution itself that support the innocence of herein Accused De Lima.”
De Lima argued that the testimonies of prosecution witnesses are hearsay and have no evidentiary value.
Initially, De Lima is facing a drug trading case with her former aide Ronnie Dayan and Rafael Ragos, former officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Corrections. But the Information was later amended to attempt or conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading, while Ragos was dropped as accused.
Meanwhile, Ragos became a prosecution witness, but De Lima argued that he lacks credibility and his testimony “suffers from clear and irreconcilable inconsistencies with several other pleadings that he has made throughout the various stages of the case.”
“It is important to note that in the original affidavit of Ragos, the latter never mentioned the delivery of money to Accused De Lima. To recall, this allegation only cropped up after Ragos was detained and prior to amendment of the Original Information, which resulted in his removal as accused in the case,” the motion read.
Meanwhile, De Lima said that the testimony of former chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and now Baguio City Major Benjamin Magalong only detailed the planning stages of “Oplan Galugad.” This was the raid in the Bilibid, which De Lima said, Magalong deemed as successful.
“General Magalong actually absolved Accused De Lima from any links to the illegal drug trade. He and his team in the PNP CIDG have investigated the drug operations inside the New Bilibid Prison and he stated on record that there was never an integrity issue against then Secretary of Justice Leila De Lima,” the motion read.
“Ultimately, there is but one question facing the Honorable Court: is the evidence of guilt against Accused De Lima strong? It is as simple as the answer to it is clear: it is not,” the motion read.
“Certainly, the granting of bail to Accused De Lima will result in upholding her constitutional presumption of innocence, recognizing her right to due process,” it added.
Sen. Leila de Lima on Saturday marked the first year of her detention at the Philippine National Police detention center in Quezon City.
Ahead of the anniversary of her arrest, the Senate minority and various rights groups called on the Philippine government to release her immediately.
The Department of Justice initially charged De Lima for drug trading, but over the months, the state prosecutors filed motions to amend the charges and indict the senator on conspiracy to commit drug trading instead.
De Lima is known as one of the most outspoken critics of President Rodrigio Duterte's administration.
Detained former Sen. Leila De Lima expresses dismay over the Solicitor General's petition for certiorari agains her acquittal.
"I am, of course, greatly dismayed by the OSG's move in elevating to the CA the judgment of my acquittal in one of my 3 trumped-up drug cases," De Lima says in a dispatch.
"An acquittal is an acquittal, a final and conclusive disposition of the merits of the case which, under firmly settled case law, is no longer appealable, save for very exceptional grounds or circumstances, none of which can be legitimately invoked to question the 12 May 2023 Decision of the RTC-Muntinlupa, Br. 205 exonerating me and my co-accused," she adds.
"What is exceptional here is the persistence of my persecutors to perpetuate this travesty of justice by keeping me incarcerated," the former senator and justice secretary concludes.
The remaining drug case against former Sen. Leila De Lima was raffled off to the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206, sala of Presiding Judge Gener M. Gito, her legal team says.
The remaining drug case against detained former senator Leila De Lima will be handled by Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Joseph Alcantara.
The case is re-raffled off to Court 26 after Judge Romeo Buenaventure inhibited himself two weeks ago.
De Lima is battling the drug case after years of being accused of receiving around P70 million from alleged illegal drug trade collection at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City from 2013 to 2015.
Council for People’s Development and Governance, a network of 60 non-governmental organizations, on Independence Day, called for the release of former Sen. Leila de Lima.
In a statement, CPDG has condemned the “injustices endured” by de Lima, including political prisoners and those behind bars waiting for their cases to be heard. This, they said, highlight “the disturbingly biased and problematic nature of the Philippine justice system -punishing mostly the powerless and targeted.”
“It is a critical juncture in our nation’s history, demanding that the Philippine government under [President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.] genuinely upholds his promises to rectify the prevailing ‘unfreedoms’ within our society,” they add.
Department of Justice prosecutors file an appeal on the Muntinlupa court’s dismissal of the conspiracy to commit drug charge against former Sen. Leila de Lima.
The prosecution filed a Motion for Reconsideration before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 that acquitted De Lima on May 12—clearing her of her second drug case.
They say in their appeal: “With all due respect, the Prosecution most respectfully moves for the reconsideration thereof on the ground that jurisprudence dictates and the circumstances of the instant case reveal that the subsequent recantation of the witness Ragos was not able to vitiate his original testimony given in open court.”
Prosecutors also argue “there are other pieces of evidence on record to prove all the elements of the crime charged, including the role played by both accused [De Lima and her ex-aide Ronnie Dayan] in the illegal drug trading inside the [Bilibid].” — Kristine Joy Patag
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