MANILA, Philippines — Senator Leila de Lima asked the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 34 to dismiss a case accusing her of ignoring summons from the House of Representatives as well as halting her former driver Ronnie Dayan from attending a House hearing on the proliferation of narcotics trade at the national penitentiary.
In 2016, former Speaker and Davao del Norte 1st District Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali and Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas filed a complaint for violation of Article 150 of the Revised Penal Code for disobedience to summons against De Lima.
Years later, De Lima filed a demurrer to the evidence before the Quezon City court on Nov. 3 but was shared with the media this Thursday, to dismiss the disobedience to summon the case.
“WHEREFORE, accused Leila M. De Lima respectfully prays that the Honorable Court DISMISS the Information against her and ACQUIT her of the crime charged,” read the 26-page motion.
The demurrer to evidence is a motion to dismiss filed by the accused after the prosecution finished its evidence presentation.
Under the demurrer to evidence, De Lima said there was no proof that she exchanged text messages with Dayan’s daughter, Hannah Mae, about instructing Dayan to skip the House inquiry.
“Second, there is nothing on record that serves as proof of an SMS between herein Accused [De Lima], Hannah Mae Dayan, and Ronnie Palisoc Dayan that shows any semblance of an instruction to hide and not to appear in any Committee hearing,” read the motion.
“Third, there is nothing on record to prove that herein Accused [De Lima] knew of the existence of said summons and correspondingly made a persistent and resolute effort to tempt Dayan to ignore [the] said summons, other than the unproven, unauthenticated, unverified, and inadmissible photograph of a cellphone screen,” it added.
De Lima is currently imprisoned at the custodial facility in Camp Crame in Quezon City over drug charges, which she consistently called “trumped-up.” [ac]