Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Wednesday expressed belief that former senator Leila de Lima will be exonerated in the remaining illegal drugs case against her.
“Chances are she will be acquitted,” Remulla said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
Remulla made the statement after the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court, Branch 206, allowed De Lima to post bail after “the prosecution was not able to discharge its burden of establishing that the guilt of the said accused is strong.”
“That is a very strong statement when you say the prosecution was unable to fulfill that burden of proof that is necessary for them to keep her in detention. The iota of doubt is very high in the grant of bail,” Remulla stressed.
The Justice Secretary noted that the drugs case against De Lima is non-bailable and “bail is not easily granted until the judge has been convinced.”
“Once they are able to overtake this presumption of non-bailability and bail is granted then the momentum is very much in favor of the defense,” he explained.
Remulla pointed out that he has never interfered on how the prosecution has been handling the cases filed against de Lima.
“We have really not interfered in the way they conduct the cases,” he said.
“It is not for us to tell them what to do because it is something that they started a long time ago and they are the ones who built up the case that they filed,” he added.
De Lima was arrested on February 24, 2017 after drug charges were filed against her before the Muntinlupa RTC.
Only one of the three drug cases remains pending against de Lima after being acquitted in the two other cases.
Under Criminal Case No. 17-167 which is pending before Judge Gener M. Gito of Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 206, De Lima, as then DOJ secretary, and her co-accused allegedly received P70 million in illegal drugs earnings collected by imprisoned narcotics traders of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.