Court orders prosecution to submit documents in De Lima case

A Muntinlupa court on Monday ordered the prosecution in the remaining drug case of former Senator Leila de Lima to submit several documents that were not attached in its formal offer of evidence.

In a six-page order, Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 206 required the prosecution to submit the documents within five days. 

“[T]he court perused the prosecution’s formal offer of evidence and it noticed that there are several documents indicated in the formal offer which are not attached to the formal offer of evidence,” the RTC said.

“Prosecution likewise did not indicate the record where those documents can be located,” it added.

According to the Court, De Lima and her co-accused Franklin Bucayu have filed their opposition and comment on the prosecution’s formal offer of evidence.

Meanwhile, the court said Atty. Boni Tacardon, De Lima’s legal counsel, manifested that accused Jad Dera, Ronnie Dayan, and Tan Sanchez would adopt De Lima’s comment or opposition.

“The court will rule on the formal offer of evidence by the prosecution after it shall have received the documents being required to be submitted by the court,” it said.

De Lima was accused by the Duterte administration of benefiting from the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) during her stint as secretary of the Department of Justice.

Her first acquittal came in February 2021 when the Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 205 junked one of her three cases. On May 12, the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204 acquitted her and Dayan, her co-accused and former bodyguard.

De Lima was freed on bail on November 13, 2023 after nearly seven years in detention.—RF, GMA Integrated News