Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo and Senator Leila de Lima. FILE PHOTOS
It’s high time to issue a gag order.
That was the statement of chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo on Saturday as he welcomed the move of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to request the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC) to prohibit all parties from discussing the cases against Sen. Leila de Lima in public.
Panelo said the detained senator has been using the absence of a gag order to “besmirch the reputation” of President Rodrigo Duterte over the drug cases filed against her.
“Oh yes, because De Lima is using that medium to besmirch the reputation of the President. She cannot do that,” he said when asked about his thoughts on the gag order in an interview over state-run dzRB radio.
READ: Gag Leila et al., gov’t asks court
Panelo agreed when asked if the lawyers of de Lima were conditioning the minds of the public with their remarks on the senator’s drug cases.
“Eh ganoon nga ang ginagawa nila. Kaya dapat talaga pabayaan na lang nila ‘yung courts na mag-try ng kaso (That’s what they are really doing. They need to just the let the courts try the cases). Let the judicial process run its course,” he said.
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella, meanwhile, said the request of gov’t prosecutors for a gag order was “nothing new.”
“The sub judice rule is a time-honored doctrine. Should the court grant the motion, we expect all parties to abide by it to preclude any undue pressure to the judge hearing the cases or any influence that may condition the minds of the public on the merits of the case,” Abella said in a statement. IDL