THE Justice department has urged a Muntinlupa trial court to reconsider its decision rejecting its plea to consolidate its three drug-trading charges against detained Senator Leila de Lima.
“While we respect the court, we filed a motion for reconsideration of its decision,” Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said in a text message over the weekend.
A panel led by Senior State Prosecutor Peter Ong filed the plea, insisting that the three cases against De Lima arose from a similar set of facts with common parties and issues and could be heard by one court.
The Justice department filed three separate cases against De Lima before the Muntinlupa RTC in February for allegedly receiving money from the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison.
The cases were then raffled off to three different RTC branches: 204 under Judge Juanita Guerrero, 205 under Judge Amelia Fabros-Corpuz, and 206 under Judge Patria Manalastas.
Guerrero issued the arrest warrant against De Lima on Feb. 23 that led to her detention at the Philippine National Police custodial center.
During the hearing, state prosecutors moved to consolidate the three cases for practical purposes.
But in an order released last week, Guerrero denied the prosecution’s motion and held that the consolidation of the three cases would lead to prolonged trial.
‘‘The court finds no merit to consolidate the three aforementioned cases to one court because the accused are different and the cases involve different incidents, the order said.
The court agreed with De Lima’s camp that the consolidation would not really expedite the trial, but would actually prolong it in violation of her constitutional right to a speedy trial.
The regional trial courts temporarily suspended the proceedings in De Lima’s cases after she questioned her indictment and arrest before the Supreme Court, which had heard her petition in the oral arguments last month and was expected to rule on her plea for a status quo ante order that would allow her release from detention.