De Lima camp wants drug raps junked due to ‘mistrial’

Sen. Leila de Lima waves at her supporters outside the Muntinlupa City Hall of Justice during the arraignment of one of her three drug cases on Friday, Aug. 18, 2017. Photo courtesy of the Office of Sen. Leila de Lima

For the camp of Sen. Leila de Lima, the continuous verbal attacks of President Rodrigo Duterte against the detained senator will be added to the list of reasons why her case in a Muntinlupa City court should be dismissed.

The counsels of De Lima said they have withdrawn on Friday their motion to quash the illegal drug trade case against her at Branch 205 of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court they filed last Tuesday.

Former Sen. Rene Saguisag, who has been attending De Lima’s hearing, said he recommended the defense lawyers to file a motion to dismiss the case on grounds of mistrial.

Saguisag said there was no way De Lima could get a fair trial since the President and his men—particularly Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo—would not stop commenting that the lady senator was guilty.

“And for the President to keep condemning someone being tried by the court, it will really sway policemen, prosecutors and judges to tow the line,” the 78-year-old Saguisag said.

“Dahil kung ikaw ay (If you are the police), prosecutor o judge, you don’t want to get into trouble (with the President). You want to get promoted, e di susundin mo na lang yung sinasabi ng pangulo (you’ll just have to follow what the President had said),” he added.

Saguisag cited the Sheppard vs. Maxwell case of the US Supreme Court in 1966. The US high court reversed the conviction of Sam Sheppard for a second-degree murder of his wife by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, concluding “he did not receive a fair trial.”

The Supreme Court said “the trial judge failed to protect Sheppard sufficiently for the massive, pervasive and prejudicial publicity that attended his persecution.”

The case of illegal drug trade filed against De Lima and coaccused Jose Adrian Dera before the RTC Branch 205 stemmed from the complaint of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, which was earlier filed before the Department of Justice.

The complaint used the statements of drug convicts during a series of hearings by the House of Representatives investigating the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison allegedly committed by De Lima and Dera in March 2016.

“Aside from the previous reasons we have cited, we will add the prejudicial statements of Mr. Duterte in our motion for the judge to dismiss the case due to mistrial,” said one of De Lima’s lawyer who wished not to be identified for lack of authority.

“Kaya bang magsalita ng judge kung nagsasalita na ang presidente (Is the judge need to say more if the President has already spoken)?” he added.

In a court order dated Aug. 17, 2017, Judge Amelia Fabros-Corpuz granted the prosecution’s “urgent motion for extension of time with motion to reset” the hearing to file its rejoinder to De Lima’s reply. The prosecutors were given 15 days, deferring De Lima’s arraignment on Sept. 15.

De Lima’s camp maintained that the senator at that time was already a private citizen, as she resigned from her post as Justice secretary effective on Oct. 12, 2015, to run as senator.

Dera had already denied being a nephew or close-in security of De Lima. The Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation found out that Dera was a police asset working undercover.

In his affidavit, Dera said he tried to infiltrate the drug lords’ network by namedropping De Lima as his uncle’s former girlfriend. JPV