De Lima disappointed with bail plea denial, but still hopeful

Former senator Leila de Lima on Thursday said she was disappointed with the decision of a Muntinlupa court to deny her application for bail in her remaining drug case.

“I am of course disappointed. But with a clean conscience, I cannot and will not lose hope. I have to remain strong as I’m determined to attain justice and vindication,” De Lima said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 256 denied her bail application. This means that De Lima will continue to be detained while her case is ongoing.

De Lima has been acquitted in her two other drug cases. The first acquittal came in February 2021 at the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205 while the second came in May at the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204.

The former senator, a staunch critic of the Duterte administration, has been detained at Camp Crame since 2017 over allegations of involvement in the drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison. She has repeatedly denied the charges.

De Lima said her lawyers will file a motion for reconsideration with the hope that the judge is not yet closed to the perspective that the word of the inmate witnesses “is utterly unreliable and therefore completely not credible and unworthy of belief.”

De Lima’s legal counsel Filibon Tacardon said they have until Tuesday to file the motion.

“We have not yet filed it. We’re still studying it and we will try our best to convince the judge… and the evaluation of the same, we will leave it again to the sound discretion of the honorable judge,” Tacardon said in a Zoom interview.

The next hearings are set for June 19 and June 26.

Nine months

According to Tacardon, the Office of the Court Administrator also gave the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256 nine months to resolve De Lima’s remaining case.

“There is a directive coming from the Office of the Court Administrator addressed to the Court… directing the trial court, our trial court, to finish the case within a period of nine months,” he said.

In the order, dated May 18, the OCA directed Presiding Judge Romeo Buenaventura to prioritize and decide the case within nine months “considering that the instant case has been pending for six years.”

The OCA also directed the panel of prosecutions to complete and terminate its presentation of evidence by June 26.

Humanitarian grounds

Meanwhile, when sought for comment on Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla's saying their camp should have filed a bail plea on humanitarian grounds, Tacardon said De Lima is seeking vindication and not mercy.

This came after Remulla on Wednesday said the prosecution would not have challenged the bail plea if it was grounded on humanitarian reasons.

“According to Senator Leila, she is seeking vindication and she is not seeking mercy. She knows that she is innocent and she believes that she is innocent. And she believes that the time will come when truth and justice will prevail,” Tacardon said.

Tacardon said De Lima proposed solving the bail application on the merits of the case, which she said was more important for her.

“Rather than getting ‘yung awa [pity] from other people,” he said.

“Sabi nga niya [As she said], I will not sulk and will not accept humanitarian plea as a vehicle for her release. Lalaban at lalaban pa rin siya dahil naniniwala siya na [She will keep fighting because she knows] she is innocent of all these trumped-up charges,” Tacardon added.

SC statement

Tacardon said he and De Lima were also surprised by a press briefer released by the Supreme Court on the decision of the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 256.

“Kasi it’s not every day that the Supreme Court, the public information office of the Supreme Court, will come up with a media advisory over a case that is not pending before the Supreme Court,” Tacardon said.

He said De Lima was happy with the court’s advisory that the resolution on the bail plea is not yet the final determination of the guilt of the accused. — BM, GMA Integrated News