DOJ on De Lima drug cases: Muntinlupa court ‘carefully evaluated’ evidence

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday maintained its respect for the Muntinlupa City court that acquitted Senator Leila de Lima in one of the three drug cases even as it denied her plea to junk another case.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 Judge Leizel Aquiatan had “carefully evaluated and weighed all the evidence presented by the prosecution before determining its sufficiency or insufficiency.”

“The DOJ has always believed in the objectivity and impartiality of the trial court,” Guevarra said. “These are the facts, and whether we are happy or not is really irrelevant.”

In separate orders on Wednesday, Aquiatan granted De Lima’s demurrer to evidence in her case involving Jose Adrian Dera but junked a similar plea for the case involving her former driver and bodyguard Ronnie Dayan.

Aquiatan said the prosecution failed to establish De Lima’s connection to Dera, allegedly the senator’s nephew.

The judge, however, did not see any reason to dismiss at the moment the case involving De Lima and Dayan. In this case, prosecutors alleged that P10 million in Bilibid drug trade proceeds was delivered to De Lima's house in 2012.

Aquiatan said the prosecution was able to show that illegal drug trading exists in Bilibid and that some of its proceeds went to De Lima and Dayan.

De Lima’s camp said they would appeal the ruling, including the junking of her motion for bail.

In an interview with ANC, De Lima’s lawyer Dino de Leon said the senator should be given temporary liberty because she is “still innocent until this point in time.”

"Jurisprudence allows those people who are not flight risk to post bail and the senator is not a flight risk so we intend to actually file a motion for consideration insofar as that particular decision of the court is concerned," he said.

De Lima is accused of conspiring with high-profile inmates to sell or trade illegal drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison during her term as justice secretary allegedly in exchange for millions of pesos supposedly for her senatorial campaign.

She has repeatedly denied the allegations.

De Lima is presently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City. — RSJ, GMA News