Court to hear Leila’s bid to dismiss drug charges

MANILA, Philippines - The hearings on Sen. Leila de Lima’s motions to quash the drug cases filed against her and contesting the court’s jurisdiction over them have been set for Friday.

The three Muntinlupa City regional trial court (RTC) judges handling the drug charges have scheduled the hearings at 8:30 a.m., court staffers said.

The Department of Justice has filed charges of violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 against De Lima. The senator said the cases should have been filed with the Office of the Ombudsman and not with the RTC.

The cases were assigned to Judges Juanita Guerrero, Amelia Fabros-Corpuz and Patria Manalastas-de Leon.

The case in Guerrero’s sala also includes De Lima’s former driver and lover Ronnie Dayan and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) deputy director Rafael Ragos as co-accused, while the case under Fabros Corpuz includes her nephew, Jose Adrian Dera.

Also named respondents in the case under De Leon were former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) head Franklin Bucayu, alleged bagman Wilfredo Elli, prisoner Jaybee Sebastian, De Lima’s former bodyguard Jonel Sanchez, Dayan and Dera.

De Lima’s lawyers filed the motions to quash the same day the cases were raffled off to the three judges on Monday.

The cases filed by the DOJ stemmed from the complaints by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), former NBI deputy directors Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Salasa, and Sebastian.