Another judge inhibits from De Lima’s last drug case
MANILA, Philippines — Another trial court judge has inhibited from handling the third —and last pending — drug case against former Sen. Leila De Lima, which may cause a delay in the proceedings in her remaining drug charge.
Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 Judge Abraham Alcantara has granted the Motion for Voluntary Inhibition filed by Department of Justice prosecutors.
With this development, the entire case records of De Lima will be transmitted to the Office of the Clerk of Court of Muntinlupa RTC for re-raffle to yet a different judge. The hearing set on Friday has also been canceled.
De Lima’s appeal on her rejected bail petition is pending before the court.
State prosecutors earlier sought the inhibition of Alcantara citing a “near identical case” the same judge handled where De Lima and her former aide and co-accused Ronnie Dayan were acquitted.
“Having adversely decided against the People in the previous Criminal Case No. 17-165, the undersigned Panel of Prosecutors cannot help but be apprehensive that the Honorable Presiding Judge will carry over his perceptions to the instant case,” they said in their motion filed July 6.
They added that they are moving for the judge’s inhibition to “maintain and preserve the trust and faith of the party-litigants.”
Judge Alcantara, in his one-page order,asserted that by acquitting De Lima in a separate drug case, “based on the evidence presented,” he “cannot be said to have traversed the line that divides neutrality and partiality.”
However, the judge acknowledged that: “At the very first sign of lack of faith and trust in his or her actions, whether well-grounded or not, the Judge has no other alternative but to inhibit himself or herself from the case.”
“With the foregoing, the undersigned Presiding Judge will exercise prudent discretion and voluntarily desist from hearing the case not because the prosecution’s assertion is true but to put to rest any questions against his credibility, integrity and fairness,” the order released on Thursday read.
De Lima is battling her last drug charge after she was cleared of two cases. The former lawmaker won in her first case when she challenged the sufficiency of prosecution evidence against her, while she won her second case on the ground of reasonable doubt.
The former senator has been in detention since February 2017, and has long maintained her innocence in what she said are politically-motivated cases filed against her.
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