The Supreme Court has been asked to reconsider its ruling that denied the plea of detained Senator Leila de Lima for a furlough to be able to argue the petition seeking to nullify President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to withdraw the country’s membership from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
In a 12-page motion for reconsideration, De Lima sought for a reconsideration of the SC’s denial of her motion to allow her to participate during the oral arguments on the petition that she and her fellow opposition senators filed before the Court questioning the constitutionality of the President’s decision to withdraw the country’s adherence to the Rome Statute.
De Lima emphasized that she is not asking for temporary liberty or bail but a mere travel from the Philippine National Police Custodial Center to the Supreme Court’s Session Hall and back depending on the duration of the oral argument.
“The motion involves De Lima’s mere transfer from the PNP Custodial Center to the SC Session Hall, under the same heavy guard and one might say exaggerated security provided by the PNP every time she is transported to her court hearings before the Regional Trial Court of Muntinlupa or the Metropolitan Trial Court of Quezon City, all within a matter of four to six hours, depending on the duration of the oral arguments in the instant case,” the motion stated.
De Lima explained that for all intents and purposes what she is asking is a furlough, which was also brought before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court where the same requests for furlough remain unacted.