The Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 205 has denied Senator Leila De Lima’s plea to attend her son’s graduation on June 3.
In a two-page order, Muntinlupa RTC Judge Amelia Fabros-Corpuz said the Senator “cannot be given a different treatment as that of other prisoners whose liberty is curtailed, pending the final resolution of their criminal cases.”
The Muntinlupa Court agreed with the reasons cited by the prosecution in their opposition:
- her presence in the graduation ceremony is not indispensable;
- the solemnity of the occasion will be disrupted by her presence considering she is a public figure;
- the occasion will be celebrated in public;
- the risk of flight is ‘very high’;
- granting her request would provide her the liberties enjoyed by any free man, and
- her supporters might disrupt the graduation ceremony by holding a protest rally.
“In sum, accused De Lima’s presence in the said Commencement Exercises will disrupt the solemnity of the said occasion not only for the other attendees and parents but also for her son who will celebrate the momentous occasion,” the Court said.
The court added that with the Senator’s presence, the security of the school may be put at risk as well as the security of the place where it is located.
“The time honored principle that ‘the law may be harsh, but it is the law’ applies in this situation where the accused whose liberties are curtailed, cannot exercise acts nor conduct activities of a freeman, even though the said accused has not been adjudged guilty of the crime charged,” the court said.
The court added that the Senator need not miss her son’s graduation with the advent of technology where her relatives can record the event and show it to her when her family visits her in Camp Crame. /vvp
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