In fresh bid, 4 senators seek de Lima participation in sessions, hearings

Sen. Leila De Lima.
(File photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquier)

MANILA, Philippines — Four senators on Wednesday made a fresh call for detained Senator Leila de Lima’s participation in plenary sessions and committee hearings through teleconferencing.

As de Lima marked her fourth year in detention, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and minority senators led by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon jointly filed Senate Resolution No. 658. Senators Francis Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros were also authors of the resolution.

To recall, Drilon and Senator Panfilo Lacson filed in July 2019 a similar resolution that sought to let De Lima participate in plenary through teleconferencing, video conferencing, or other forms of remote or electronic communications. The resolution is still pending at the committee level.

In the new resolution, the four senators stressed there is available technology to allow de Lima to perform her functions as a duly-elected lawmaker.

As a duly-elected member of the Senate of the 18th Congress, de Lima must be accorded “the privilege of participating in its plenary sessions and committee hearings via remote access,” the senators pointed out.

Last May, the Senate amended its rules, through an adopted resolution, to allow the conduct of plenary sessions and committee hearings through teleconference, video conference, or other reliable forms of remote electronic means due to restrictions posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through this, the Senate and its committees have been conducting plenary sessions and committee hearings through remote and electronic means.

The senators noted that after the Supreme Court allowed litigants to appear before the courts via teleconferencing, Camp Crame established three existing facilities within its grounds to allow De Lima to attend her court hearings via remote access from her detention room.

They added that in the case of then-Senator Antonio Trillanes, jurisprudence “allows detained legislators to perform their as long as they are done within the confines of their detention centers as ruled by the Supreme Court.”

KGA