De Lima, lawyer seek dismissal of DOJ's contempt plea
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila De Lima and her lawyer on Monday asked a Muntinlupa court to dismiss the contempt case filed by government prosecutors against them over their statements made on drug case trial the lawmaker is facing.
In separately filed Comments, De Lima and her lawyer Filibon Tacardon had asked the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206 to dismiss the petition filed by the Department of Justice prosecutors, saying their out-of-court statements assailed by the prosecution did not present a clear and present danger or imminent threat to the administration of justice.
The best proof of this is the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205 Judge Liezel Aquiatan’s Omnibus orders on their motions for bail and demurrer to evidence, a bid to dismiss the charge, in the two cases pending before her, De Lima and Tacardon said. One was granted, while the second was junked and trial would proceed.
“A plain reading of both Omnibus Orders by the trial court… clearly show that the trial court labored under no undue pressure arising from any purported tendency of Respondent’s statements to influence, intimidate, impede, embarrass or obstruct the trial court’s administration of justice,” De Lima told the court in a Comment filed March 1.
READ: De Lima acquitted in 1 of 3 drug cases
The DOJ, in December 2020, asked the court to cite De Lima and Tacardon in contempt, alleging that their “misinformation” is deemed an “affront to the lawful proceedings” of the court in their “obvious desire to attack or insult” the court’s independence.
The state prosecution cited Tacardon’s statements made after hearings on the case, saying an Anti-Money Laundering Council investigator and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency forensic examiner testified that they found no suspicious transactions between the senator and drug convicts.
The DOJ said the statements were “timely and deliberate” as the court had then terminated its proceedings on De Lima’s petition for bail. "Their press statements and pronouncements in different media platforms have the power to persuade, influence, intimidate, incite the perception and sentiments of their colleagues and other government officials, including the trial court judges," they said.
Court was not influenced
The DOJ prosecutors are accusing De Lima and her lawyer of violating the sub judice rule, which restricts comments on a pending case.
But De Lima pointed out that the sub judice rule is not without qualifications.
“It is not intended to gag public interest in or in public comment on a public trial, more specifically a criminal trial or a case involving public interest. These kinds of court proceedings are a public event, and what occurs in the court room is public property,” she added.
The senator also asserted that their out-of-court statement is protected from punishment for contempt under freedom of speech and press “it appears that under all the circumstances shown it embraces a clear and present danger that the administration of justice would be impeded.”
“Comments, legal opinions, or out-of-court statements in general should not be impaired through the exercise of the power of contempt unless there is no doubt that the utterances in question constitute an imminent, not merely likely, threat to the administration of justice,” she added.
Tacardon said there is no proof that Judge Liezel Aquiatan was influenced in favor of De Lima and the prosecutors “merely assumed” that since media reported on their statements, the court had been influenced.
The lawyer also asserted that their statements were factual and consistent with what transpired in the hearings. He said he was merely echoing statements by witnesses and as such did not violate the sub judice rule “since there is no distortion at all.”
“There can then be no undue influence, let alone be a threat to the Court’s impartiality, when what was mentioned were facts that were ultimately subjected to the appreciation of the Court,” he added.
De Lima was acquitted in one of the three conspiracy to commit drug trading cases filed against her. She has since appealed the dismissal of her motion for bail and demurrer to evidence in the second case. She is also facing a third case, pending before the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 265, where trial is still ongoing.
The senator, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, marked her fourth year in detention on February 24, over the drug cases which she claimed are trumped up.
Sen. Leila de Lima on Saturday marked the first year of her detention at the Philippine National Police detention center in Quezon City.
Ahead of the anniversary of her arrest, the Senate minority and various rights groups called on the Philippine government to release her immediately.
The Department of Justice initially charged De Lima for drug trading, but over the months, the state prosecutors filed motions to amend the charges and indict the senator on conspiracy to commit drug trading instead.
De Lima is known as one of the most outspoken critics of President Rodrigio Duterte's administration.
Detained former Sen. Leila De Lima expresses dismay over the Solicitor General's petition for certiorari agains her acquittal.
"I am, of course, greatly dismayed by the OSG's move in elevating to the CA the judgment of my acquittal in one of my 3 trumped-up drug cases," De Lima says in a dispatch.
"An acquittal is an acquittal, a final and conclusive disposition of the merits of the case which, under firmly settled case law, is no longer appealable, save for very exceptional grounds or circumstances, none of which can be legitimately invoked to question the 12 May 2023 Decision of the RTC-Muntinlupa, Br. 205 exonerating me and my co-accused," she adds.
"What is exceptional here is the persistence of my persecutors to perpetuate this travesty of justice by keeping me incarcerated," the former senator and justice secretary concludes.
The remaining drug case against former Sen. Leila De Lima was raffled off to the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206, sala of Presiding Judge Gener M. Gito, her legal team says.
The remaining drug case against detained former senator Leila De Lima will be handled by Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Joseph Alcantara.
The case is re-raffled off to Court 26 after Judge Romeo Buenaventure inhibited himself two weeks ago.
De Lima is battling the drug case after years of being accused of receiving around P70 million from alleged illegal drug trade collection at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City from 2013 to 2015.
Council for People’s Development and Governance, a network of 60 non-governmental organizations, on Independence Day, called for the release of former Sen. Leila de Lima.
In a statement, CPDG has condemned the “injustices endured” by de Lima, including political prisoners and those behind bars waiting for their cases to be heard. This, they said, highlight “the disturbingly biased and problematic nature of the Philippine justice system -punishing mostly the powerless and targeted.”
“It is a critical juncture in our nation’s history, demanding that the Philippine government under [President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.] genuinely upholds his promises to rectify the prevailing ‘unfreedoms’ within our society,” they add.
Department of Justice prosecutors file an appeal on the Muntinlupa court’s dismissal of the conspiracy to commit drug charge against former Sen. Leila de Lima.
The prosecution filed a Motion for Reconsideration before the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 that acquitted De Lima on May 12—clearing her of her second drug case.
They say in their appeal: “With all due respect, the Prosecution most respectfully moves for the reconsideration thereof on the ground that jurisprudence dictates and the circumstances of the instant case reveal that the subsequent recantation of the witness Ragos was not able to vitiate his original testimony given in open court.”
Prosecutors also argue “there are other pieces of evidence on record to prove all the elements of the crime charged, including the role played by both accused [De Lima and her ex-aide Ronnie Dayan] in the illegal drug trading inside the [Bilibid].” — Kristine Joy Patag
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