MANILA, Philippines — A Muntinlupa City court has agreed to reopen a drug case against former Sen. Leila de Lima that had already been scheduled for promulgation, to allow prosecutors to bring in a rebuttal witness.
Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara of Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 said, however, that prosecutors would only be allowed to present their rebuttal evidence on Friday morning and that promulgation will still be on May 12 as earlier scheduled.
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The prosecution will present testimony from lawyer Demiteer Huerta of the of the Public Attorney's Office.
"The Court does not shrink from its responsibility to receive evidence in order to ferret out the truth," the court said in allowing new testimony while also stressing that it will not extend proceedings beyond May 12.
Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204 reopens drug trial vs ex-Sen. Leila de Lima, following a motion from the prosecution.
— Kristine Patag (@kristinepatag) April 27, 2023
But the court gives the prosecution only one day (April 28) to present a rebuttal witness. Promulgation of the decision will still be on May 12. @PhilstarNews pic.twitter.com/AJ4tbDb7BR
In 2021, De Lima was acquitted in one of three drug cases filed against her by the government. She has maintained that the cases are motivated by politics, an assertion that the government has rejected.
In the case at hand, prosecution star witness Rafael Ragos, former corrections chief, has retracted testimony that he gave monies supposedly from the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison to De Lima, through her former aide Ronne Dayan, who is also an accused in the trial.
De Lima's legal team has insisted that Ragos' prior testimony, which he withdrew in an affidavit filed in last year, was the sole basis of the case.
Ragos claimed that prosecution witness Huerta was one of the lawyers who, along with former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and ex-National Bureau of Investigation chief Dante Gierran, pressured him to implicate de Lima in the drug trade.
On Thursday night, rights group Human Rights Watch called on the US government to urge President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to drop the charges against de Lima and against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, whom the group called prominent critics of the government.
"President Biden and members of the US Congress should clarify to President Marcos that an improved bilateral relationship can only be maintained if substantive progress is made in protecting human rights,"
HRW Asia advocacy director John Sifton said in a release.
"A good place to start is for Marcos to make sure that rights defenders like de Lima, Ressa, and others are protected, not targeted or detained."
The government has brushed off similar calls in the past as interference in domestic matters.