Lagman: Remulla son's acquittal swift, De Lima's case ‘stranded’

Veteran lawmaker Edcel Lagman of Albay said the acquittal of Juanito Remulla III, son of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, was "swift" yet the drug case lodged against former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima appeared "stranded."

“It is grossly unfortunate that the exoneration of a Remulla scion was swift but liberation of ex-Sen. Leila de Lima is stranded in a dark tunnel of injustice,” Lagman, a lawyer, said.

Since her detention five years ago, one of the three drug cases against de Lima has been junked by the court due to lack of merit.

De Lima has denied the drug charges and maintained that these were politically motivated due to her criticism of the Duterte administration’s bloody drug war.

A key witnesses in her case had also recanted his testimony.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, meanwhile, said Juanito Remulla's acquittal did not come as a surprise.

“From the basic facts of the case as I have gathered from the new reports, I am not surprised that the accused has been acquitted. I believe he was arrested when the package was handed over to him and it was a closed package. And that the law enforcers waited for media representatives to arrive before opening the package in front of the accused,” Pimentel told GMA News Online.

A Las Piñas court cleared the Remulla scion of illegal possession charges three months after his arrest during a controlled delivery operation by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group in Talon Dos, Las Piñas last October 11, 2022.

Authorities had seized a parcel containing suspected kush or high-grade marijuana worth P1.3 million during the operation.

Pimentel said that while the speedy resolution of the case was commendable, it should be available to all facing charges.

“I just hope that this example of quick action of the court can also be experienced by others who are involved in the Philippine justice system. This quick action can be conviction or acquittal, [but] what is important is that the delivery of justice be speedy,” Pimentel, a lawyer, said.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Pimentel added.

Bayan Muna executive vice president Carlos Zarate echoed Pimentel and Lagman’s lament that such speedy resolution of a case is not accessible to other drug suspects.

“Sana all!,” Zarate said in a separate statement.

“If only this kind of swift resolution to a highly controversial case involving a scion of influential families like the Remullas will also be applied to the cases of hundreds of political prisoners and thousands more less privileged Filipinos languishing in many detention facilities all over the country, we can honestly say this indeed is a welcome one, an exemplar of how our justice system works,” he added.

However, Zarate lamented that "thousands, mostly poor, killed in the government's bloody 'war against drugs' were not even given the same chance of due process."

"While poor families or victims of trumped up charges languish in jail for years, even decades, the young Remulla's case is not even three months old," he added.

Justice Secretary Remulla said he did not interfere in his son's case. 

“I did not interfere, in any way, with the process. I trusted the process, and I wish my son further redemption in the future,” Remulla said in an ambush interview.

“He has to make something out of his life. He had the right to be presumed innocent in the first place,” he added.

Despite today’s acquittal, Remulla’s son is still facing cases for importation of illegal drugs and violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act which are under the Pasay City Prosecutor's Office. —LDF/VBL, GMA Integrated News