SENATOR Leila de Lima on Monday declined to enter a plea before the Quezon City Metropolitan Trial Court on the charges she ignored summonses from Congress.
She is also accused of preventing her former driver and lover from appearing before the House of Representatives’ inquiry into the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison when she was Justice secretary.
Judge Maria Ludmila Pio-Lim of Quezon City entered a not-guilty plea on her behalf.
De Lima is accused of violating Article 150 of the Revised Penal Code for ignoring the summonses issued by the national assembly, its committee or subcommittees.
The complainants are House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, House Majority Floor Leader Rodolfo Fariñas and House Committee on Justice chairman Reynaldo Umali.
De Lima’s arraignment pushed through after the court denied her plea against it.
The lower court then proceeded with the preliminary conference where De Lima’s camp refused to stipulate on the copy of De Lima’s supposed text message to Hanna Mae, the daughter of her ex-driver and lover Ronnie Dayan because it was not authenticated.
She allegedly texted Dayan’s daughter to tell her father not to attend the congressional inquiry on the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the NBP.
The prosecution has submitted an amended information on the case to change its wordings from “advising” Dayan not to attend the hearing to “instructing” Dayan in the amended complaint.
The pieces of evidence provisionally marked by the prosecution include the House of Representative’s subpoena, show-cause order, order of contempt and the photocopy of De Lima’s supposed message to Dayan’s daughter.
The prosecutors said they will present six more witnesses against De Lima aside from the lawmakers.
The hearing is set on April 26. The court required De Lima to appear at every hearing.
