De Lima appeals dismissal of drug rap vs inmate-witness
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila De Lima has appealed the Muntilupa prosecution office’s dismissal of her criminal complaint against inmate Joel Capones, the prosecution’s star witness against her in the conspiracy to commit drug trading case against her.
The detained senator filed a motion for reconsideration on September 21, urging the Office of the City Prosecutor of Manila to set aside its earlier resolution that dismissed her complaint of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading against Capones due to insufficiency of evidence.
Capones testified before the court that he remitted money to convict Jaybee Sebastian, who has since died, and that he saw the latter give money to Jad Dera, said to be the senator’s nephew but who later claimed to be a police asset instead.
Assistant City Prosecutor Jan Michael Valdez junked De Lima’s complaint against Capones as he held that “no other evidence other than statements made by Capones implicating himself were submitted.”
Valdez also held that Capones made an extra-judicial confession and “cannot be basis for conviction without any proof of the corpus delicti, meaning proof of the commission of the crime, other than the admission or confession.”
The local prosecutor instead said complaints should be referred to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for further reinvestigation or case build-up.
But De Lima, in her appeal, said the prosecution office “violated the Rules of Evidence in ruling that in a preliminary investigation, a confession is insufficient as evidence against the confessor.”
“Nowhere in these rules is it provided that before a confession or admission can be used against an accused, their presentation should be in addition to other object, testimonial, or documentary evidence,” she added.
“[Capones] wants his confession, ironically, to bind everyone else he has implicated in his testimony, specifically herein Complainant, except himself. Capones is saying his confession is only good against herein complainant… but not against him in any proceeding filed against him,” her motion read.
De Lima also insisted that a “confession is evidence of the highest order,” as she argued that jurisprudence had held that a strong presumption that no person will knowingly confess to be a perpetrator supports a confession.
She also asserted that Capones did not make an extra-judicial confession as it was made inside a courtroom before a judge in the course of legal proceedings.
De Lima said that even assuming that Capones’ made an extra-judicial confession, the rule on the degree of proof necessary to make a conviction does not apply since they are at the preliminary investigation — where probable cause is the degree of proof necessary — and not at court.
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