De Lima hearing reset anew, witness no-show

The prosecution has once again failed to present the witness against detained Senator Leila de Lima on the alleged drug charges during Monday’s hearing at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court.

De Lima’s lawyer Rolly Peoro said the court received a letter from the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) requesting prosecution witness inmate Joel Capones be presented via videoconference due to security concerns.

Citing that drug charges against the senator was non-bailable, the camp of De Lima earlier asked that Capones to be presented in the court “to avoid any miscarriage of justice.”

“They are alleging transport entails security issues. They requested the witness be presented via videoconference. Prior naman [to this], all witnesses were presented onsite,” Peoro said in an ambush interview.

“This is the first time they are raising security concerns. We insisted this is a non-bailable offense. Mabibigat ang allegations ng testigo [The allegations of the witness were weighty]. We want to see him face-to-face and see his demeanor,” he added.

In response, lead prosecutor Sonny Ocampo said both prosecution and defense were prepared for today’s hearing.

However, he said the Bureau of Corrections (BOC) did not bring in the witness.

Peoro reiterated that the drug complaints against De Lima were all “trump-up charges.”

“Tulad ng dati palaban pa rin si (Senator Leila). She’s prepared and hopeful naman sa kasong ito. Tulad naman ng mga nabanggit namin lahat ng ito ay trump-up charges lang,” he stated.

(Like before, Senator Leila is still fighting. She’s prepared and hopeful about this case. As we said before, all these are just trump-up charges.)

Peoro also bared that the court hearing would be reset to May 30, 2022.

De Lima has been held at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Quezon City since February 2017 for alleged proliferation of illegal drugs at the NBP during her tenure as justice secretary.

She has consistently denied the allegations, arguing that these were made up by the Duterte administration.

Since then, one the of three drug-related charges leveled against her has been dismissed by the court due to lack of evidence.—LDF, GMA News