De Lima co-accused moved to Munti jail

MANILA, Philippines — National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) detainee Jose Adrian Dera, a co-accused in the last drug case against detained former senator Leila de Lima, was transferred to the Muntinlupa City Jail on Thursday night, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said yesterday.

Dera’s transfer was made after the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 204 Judge Abraham Joseph Alcantara granted the request of the NBI.

“I got a report that he was transferred to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology yesterday in Muntinlupa,” DOJ spokesman Mico Clavano said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

Dera, who has been detained since 2019, and six NBI security personnel are facing a criminal complaint before the DOJ for being caught last June 21 returning to the NBI detention facility after going out without permission.

He was found to be carrying firearms, cash and other contraband. A security camera footage also showed him eating in a buffet restaurant with his alleged girlfriend in Makati during his excursion.

In a recent Senate hearing, Dera confessed to having left the NBI detention facility at least four times but insisted that he did not bribe the NBI agents who accompanied him during these trips.

Clavano said the DOJ may finish its investigation of the matter in a week or two.

Meanwhile, the DOJ said there will be no delay in the trial of the last of three drug cases against De Lima even though a new judge will handle it.

Clavano made the remark after Alcantara inhibited himself from the case following a motion of inhibition filed by state prosecutors.

Alcantara is the second judge to inhibit himself from De Lima’s drug case after RTC Branch 256 Judge Romeo Buenaventura, which means it will be re-raffled again to another court.

Clavano said the hearing of the case will not go “back to zero” because the new judge will only have to start where Alcantara left off, since the prosecution and the defense have submitted their evidence. — Mark Ernest Villeza