THE Supreme Court is expected to resolve tomorrow (Tuesday) the petition of detained Senator Leila de Lima to be released from detention and prevent her indictment for illegal drug trading charges.
A court insider revealed that De Lima’s petition is included in the high tribunal’s en banc session today after several justices have already submitted their opinions.
“We have a divided Court,” a source said, admitting that some justices voted to deny the petition while others wanted to grant De Lima’s petition.
Last week, De Lima filed a last-minute motion seeking the inhibition of Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. due to alleged “conflict of interest” over his “prior actuations” in the case of convicted drug lord German Agojo, one of the witnesses against the senator in the drug cases.
Velasco, however, turned down the plea of De Lima, saying he did not vote in favor of Agojo when the case was decided by the SC.
Velasco stressed that De Lima’s allegation was based on a report by online journalist Marites Vitug whom he earlier charged with libel.
“The attempt of De Lima to inhibit Justice Velasco could simply be an attempt on her part to gain an advantage in connection to a pending case before the Supreme Court involving illegal drug trade and/or conspiracy to commit illegal drug trade,” read the statement issued by the SC public information office.
In her petition filed last February, De Lima asked the high court to stop her indictment before the Muntinlupa City regional trial court by the Department of Justice for allegedly benefitting from illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison.
She sought issuance of a temporary restraining order stopping the proceedings in the drug cases against her and status quo ante order on the arrest warrant issued by Muntinlupa City regional trial court branch 204 that would allow her release from detention.
Her petition, which was heard by the SC in oral arguments last March, raised the issue on whether the cases against her fall under the jurisdiction of the RTC or the Sandiganbayan.
The Department of Justice indicted the senator before the RTC, saying drug cases fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the trial courts.
But De Lima insisted that the executive agency has no jurisdiction over the case that should have been forwarded to the Office of the Ombudsman instead.
And under the law, De Lima stressed that such charges should fall under the jurisdiction of the Sandiganbayan—not the RTC—because her position at that time was secretary of Justice which had a salary grade higher than 27.
The senator currently detained at the PNP custodial center also argued that the allegations against her do not actually constitute sale and trading of illegal drugs and liability of government officials under Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act), but rather only direct bribery.
De Lima also claimed political persecution supposedly for being the number one critic of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs as reason for her indictment.
Solicitor General Jose Calida sought the dismissal of the petition due to “fatal infirmities.”
Calida argued that the embattled senator prematurely elevated her case to the high court and violated the hierarchy of courts since she has pending motion to quash information before the Muntinlupa regional trial court that effectively seeks the same reliefs as her SC petition.
The Solicitor General said De Lima should have waited for Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204 Judge Juanita Guerrero to rule on her motion before she could elevate the case to the high tribunal as a court of last resort.
Calida stressed that the absence of “well-settled jurisprudence” requiring the judge to first resolve the motion to quash before she could issue an arrest warrant—as De Lima’s lawyers insisted during earlier oral arguments.
On another technical aspect, Calida again alleged that De Lima violated the rule on notarization and verification for not personally subscribing her petition before the notarizing lawyer.
In the drug cases, De Lima was accused of receiving around P10 million in drug payoffs from November 2012 to early 2013 through her co-accused, former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos.
De Lima was arrested last Feb. 24 upon warrant issued by Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 204 Judge Juanita Guerrero.