De Lima asks Muntinlupa court to reconsider bail denial

Detained former Senator Leila de Lima on Tuesday filed a motion asking a Muntinlupa court to reconsider its denial of her bail petition.

In a 22-page motion for reconsideration, De Lima said the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 256 committed a “grave but reversible” error in finding that the prosecution met the burden of proof necessary in a bail hearing.

According to De Lima, the court did not cite points her camp raised during the cross-examination of the prosecution’s witnesses and argued in her motions for bail.

“In doing so, the Honorable Court merely relied on the testimonies of the Prosecution’s witnesses, as if no cross-examination was ever conducted by all the accused in this case,” she said.

“This is tantamount to relying merely on the affidavits of the Prosecution witnesses, which may be proper in the judicial determination of probable cause, but definitely not in a hearing and disposition of an application for bail,” she added.

De Lima argued that what is required in a bail hearing is “strong evidence of guilt” and not “probable cause.”

The former senator said the supposed reliance of the court on the testimony of the prosecution witnesses is “unprecedented, unfounded, and almost brazen.”

“With regard to the testimony of Herbert Colangco, the Honorable Court completely adopted said testimony regardless of its outlandish and embellished nature,” De Lima said.

According to De Lima, the court also failed to note the uncorroborated and hearsay nature of Bilibid inmate Engelberto Durano’s account. Durano previously testified that he delivered money to De Lima when she was secretary of Justice from inside the NBP.

Meanwhile, she said the accounts of witnesses Noel Martinez and Nonilo Enrile are “pure hearsay” and stemmed “secondhand from gossip sessions” allegedly with Bilibid high-profile inmate Jaybee Sebastian.

De Lima said the order was a “clear testament of the court’s bias and partiality.”

According to De Lima, the court also erred in concluding that she agreed to commit illegal drug trading through Oplan Galugad or the conduct of surprise inspections at the NBP.

She stressed that then-witness and CIDG director Benjamin Magalong testified that he considered Oplan Galugad to be a success and that, as far as the CIDG is concerned, De Lima is not involved in the illegal drug trade.

“That the Honorable Court chose to believe these criminal convicts who obviously have an axe to grind against several of the herein accused, instead of presuming the regularity of an operation officially planned and sanctioned by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Committee under the Office of the President is unprecedented,” she said.

Meanwhile, three of De Lima’s co-accused filed a motion asking Br. 256 Court Judge Romeo Buenaventura to stop handling their case.

In separate motions for inhibition, Ronnie Dayan, De Lima’s former driver and bodyguard, Joenel Sanchez, and Franklin Bucayu said they saw reports that Buenaventura is the brother of Atty. Emmanuel Buenaventura, who worked as a lawyer for Reynaldo Umali.

Umali was previously the chairman of the House Committee on Justice.

In his motion, Dayan stressed that he previously testified before the Muntinlupa RTC Br. 204 that he was coerced by Umali into executing a sworn affidavit.

“Given this consideration, there is a clear case of conflict of interest on the part of the Honorable Presiding Judge in trying the instant case. Henceforth, the Honorable Presiding Judge committed gross negligence, if not gross misconduct, in not declaring that he is the brother of Atty. Emmanuel Buenaventura,” he said.

“The personal relationship of the Honorable Presiding Judge… casts doubt on his duty to uphold the stringent standard of the ‘cold neutrality of an impartial judge’ in trying and deciding the case,” he added. —VAL, GMA Integrated News