THE Justice department will ask the Muntinlupa City regional trial court to issue a hold departure order against Senator Leila de Lima to prevent her from leaving the country while she is being tried for her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the state prosecutors handling the De Lima cases will file a motion Monday.
On Friday, the Justice department filed three complaints against De Lima for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, which penalizes the sale and trading of illegal drugs.
The court is expected to issue a warrant of arrest after the cases are raffled off Monday afternoon.
“If the warrant of arrest is issued, then we will also ask the court to issue a hold departure order,” Aguirre said.
Aguirre said the warrants could be released on Monday if the judge to be assigned to the cases determines that there is probable cause to proceed with the arraignment.
The Justice secretary also insisted that the Muntinlupa RTC has original and exclusive jurisdiction over the three cases filed, regardless of De Lima’s position.
Aguirre also denied De Lima’s accusation that the cases were politically motivated.
“The cases filed against Senator de Lima are all criminal in nature. Some of these cases involved illegal drugs. They are not politically motivated,” Aguirre said.
Because of this, Aguirre said De Lima should not refer to herself as a “political prisoner” as the charges against her have nothing to do with her political stand.
“Drug cases do not involve one’s political beliefs. [They] involve one’s choice to be involved in illegal drugs,” he said, adding that he inhibited himself from the resolution of the case against the senator.
Apart from De Lima, those named as her co-accused are her former lover and driver Ronnie Dayan and her nephew Jose Adrian Dera, each facing two counts.
Her other co-accused charged with one count each are former Bureau of Corrections director general Franklin Jesus Bucayu; Bucayu’s alleged bagman Wilfredo Elli; Bilibid inmate Jaybee Sebastian; National Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Rafael Ragos; and De Lima’s former aide Joenel Sanchez.
The charges were filed after the Justice department panel of prosecutors issued a resolution dated Feb. 14 to consolidate the criminal complaints filed by the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption; the NBI; former NBI deputy directors Reynaldo Esmeralda and Rule Lasala; and Sebastian.
The prosecutors dismissed the complaint against Justice Undersecretary Francisco Baraan III for “insufficiency of evidence.”
Prosecutors also dismissed the complaints against high-profile Bilibid inmates Herbert Colanggo, Engelberto Durano, Vicente Sy, Jojo Baligad and Wu Tuan Yuan, also known as Peter Co, since “they will be utilized as prosecution witnesses.”
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said the Senate would not intervene in the arrest of De Lima, and advised her to raise the issue of jurisdiction before the proper courts.
“The separation of powers will enter here. The other branches should not meddle. There should be respect,” said Pimentel in an interview over radio dzBB.
He said, however, that the arresting team should coordinate with the Senate’s security team to make sure that De Lima’s arrest would not create a ruckus.
Asked if the Senate leadership will ask that De Lima be placed under their custody, Pimentel replied that there was “no need.”
De Lima has asked that she be detained in a “safe and secure” facility to ensure she does not become a victim of extrajudicial killings.
Senator Panfilo Lacson suggested that the PNP Custodial Center inside Camp Crame, where former senators Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla are detained, is the safest detention facility.
The Liberal Party condemned what it described as “patently illegal filing of criminal cases” against De Lima before the regional trial court. It said the Sandiganbayan and not the RTC, has jurisdiction over the case as the alleged wrongdoings were supposedly committed when she was Justice secretary.
“This filing before the RTC is clearly an attempt to undermine our court processes. It is an underhanded maneuver meant to go after critics, regardless of legal bases or processes. This purely political vendetta has no place in justice system that upholds the rule of law. This is condemnable,” the LP said in a statement.
“We appeal for total impartiality in the dispensation of justice. Senator De Lima has been pre-judged before any of the charges were filed as no less than the President vowed to destroy her in public and was sure De Lima would land in jail before any case was filed. Secretary Aguirre, being the alter ego of the President, should inhibit in any and all cases filed against Senator De Lima.
“We assert that the Ombudsman has primary jurisdiction over cases against public officers cognizable by the Sandiganbayan. Violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act, which is the DoJ’s case against Senator De Lima, falls under “other offenses committed by public officials” listed in the Sandiganbayan Law,” the statement said.
The group Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, said authorities should immediately drop the politically motivated charges against De Lima, who has spoken out against President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which has left more than 7,000 people dead.
“The prosecution of Senator Leila de Lima is an act of political vindictiveness that debases the rule of law in the Philippines,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“The Duterte administration seems intent on using the courts to punish prominent critics of its murderous ‘war on drugs’,” he added. With Macon Ramos-Araneta and Sandy Araneta