DOJ prosecutors ask Muntinlupa court judge to inhibit from De Lima drug case

Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors have asked the Muntinlupa court judge handling former Senator Leila de Lima’s remaining drug case to inhibit.

In an eight-page motion, the prosecution moved for the inhibition of Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara “to ensure a just and fair administration of justice.”

The prosecution noted that Alcantara had acquitted De Lima in the case involving former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos and her former driver-bodyguard Ronnie Dayan, citing “reasonable doubt.”

“Having adversely decided against the people in the previous criminal case… the undersigned panel of prosecutors cannot help but be apprehensive that the Honorable Presiding Judge will carry over his perceptions to the instant case,” it said.

“Thus, to erase any doubt as to the impartiality of the Honorable Presiding Judge as well as to remove any impression that he will similarly decide on the instant case in favor of the accused, the prosecution most respectfully moves that the Honorable Presiding Judge voluntarily inhibit himself from hearing the instant case,” it added.

Meanwhile, when sought for comment, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said he cannot direct the prosecutors.

“So it’s all their, actually their own volition that they’re doing this… well, it can work, it may not work but that’s how lawyers think and it’s how lawyers— the prosecution lawyers want to play their case. We just respect the process right now,” he said.

GMA News Online has reached out to De Lima’s camp for comment but has yet to receive a response as of posting time.

De Lima’s case was recently raffled off to Alcantara after Branch 256 Judge Romeo Buenaventura quit the trial on June 15 on allegations that he failed to disclose that his brother had served as a lawyer for the late Oriental Mindoro lawmaker Reynaldo Umali.

Umali was previously the chairman of the House justice committee, which in 2016 held an inquiry into De Lima's alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison in exchange for election campaign funds.

De Lima has repeatedly denied the charges against her, which she claimed were fabricated by the Duterte administration.

She has been detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City, since February 2017. —KBK/RSJ, GMA Integrated News