The Supreme Court has been asked to appoint a judge in one of the three Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Courts that is handling one of the drug cases filed against detained opposition Senator Leila de Lima.
In a two-page letter to Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez, De Lima asked the SC to designate a new judge to Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 256 after the presiding judge was relieved and the judge who would take over the case had inhibited twice from hearing her other pending drug case, in a bid to speed up the resolution of her case.
“Pursuant to OCA (Office of the Court Administrator) Circular No. 213-2019 dated 11 November 2019, Judge Gener Gito, the acting presiding judge for RTC Muntinlupa Branch 256, was relieved of his designation, and has been temporarily replaced by Judge Antonietta Medina of RTC Muntinlupa Branch 276 who will be acting as the pairing judge,” De Lima said.
However, De Lima noted that “Judge Medina has already inhibited twice from one of my other pending RTC cases, my counsels and I have recently been informed that she will not be conducting any hearings for Criminal Case No. 17-167.”
In Criminal Case No. 17-167, De Lima’s co-accused are her nephew Jose Adrian Dera, former Bureau of Correction (BuCor) Director General Franklin Bucayu, and alleged bagman Wilfredo Elli, the Senator’s former aide Joenel Sanchez, her former driver Ronnie Dayan, and New Bilibid Prison (NBP) high-profile inmate Jaybee Sebastian.
In this case, De Lima has been accused of conspiring with the co-accused in trading drugs inside the NBP to allegedly raise funds for her 2016 senatorial bid.
De Lima told SC magistrates that since she was detained last Feb. 24, 2017, and since she was arraigned for the said drug case on July 27, 2018, only five out of the 54 identified prosecution witnesses have been so far called to testify.
“In view of the foregoing developments, we fervently hope that your good office would act earnestly and immediately on the matter of appointing a presiding judge to hear Criminal Case No. 17-167 pending before RTC Muntinlupa Br. 256,” De Lima said.
De Lima’s other drug-related cases are being heard by Muntinlupa City RTC Branch 205 and 206.