MANILA, Philippines — The Senate committees on justice and human rights and on finance are holding a joint hearing on how Jose Adrian "Jad" Dera, who is facing a drug case, managed to leave the National Bureau of Investigation detention center to go on dates.
Dera was intercepted late last month as he was heading back to NBI headquarters in Manila. He was found to be carrying firearms, cash and other contraband and security camera footage showed him eating at a buffet restaurant with his alleged girlfriend in Makati while he was out.
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His lawyer claimed Dera had been allowed to leave NBI custody to get his gastrisis checked, but the Department of Justice said the trip was not sanctioned.
“There were no trip tickets reported (under the vehicle they used) so we can assume that it’s not sanctioned by any office order or any other purposes other than just to leave, have dinner and come back,” Department of Justice spokesman Mico Clavano said then.
Dera is co-accused in the last of three drug cases that former Sen. Leila De Lima is facing. De Lima, who has been in government custody since 2017, has been acquitted in two other cases and maintains that they are made up and motivated by politics.
Watch the Senate hearing on Jad Dera, which will also tackle bills proposing the creation of new courts from 10 a.m. on July 5, 2023