đź“· Senator Leila de Lima | BBC
AFTER more than seven long years, former Sen. Leila De Lima held her head high after the court cleared her of the last of the three drug charges filed during the incumbency of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
In its ruling, the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 206 Presiding Judge Gener Gito June 24, granted De Lima’s demurrer to evidence filed by her lawyer in view of weak evidence.
Even before the ruling came out, Gito had already hinted that there was no sufficient proof to show conspiracy embarking on alleged “drug trade” inside the New Bilibid Prison’s maximum security compound, during De Lima’s tenure as Justice Secretary whose supervisory powers covers the national penitentiary.
Based on court records, the prosecution accused De Lima of accepting P70 million bribe from bilibid convicts who have maintained the illicit business even behind bars.
Meanwhile, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 76 likewise granted De Lima’s motion for certiorari effectively junking other two disobedience cases against the former senator.
The case which was filed by the late Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali explicitly accused De Lima of inducing fellow accused Ronnie Dayan to ignore the subpoena issued by Congress when it launched an inquiry into the drug allegations in 2016.
De Lima’s first acquittal took place in 2021 over a case linking her to mafia leader Peter Co. Two years later, Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204 followed the trail and dumped the second drug case after the government’s star witness – former Bureau of Corrections chief Rafael Ragos – admitted in court that he was forced by former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre to lie in his testimony. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
