Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque has only one wish for detained Senator De Lima—that she spend the rest of her life in jail.
Roque issued the statement as he responded to De Lima’s accusation that the Palace official has exchanged his dignity and reputation as a human right lawyer for a spot in the administration’s senatorial ticket in May 2019 elections.
“As I said, happy anniversary on your first year of detention. May you spend the rest of your life in jail. Good night. Goodbye. So that’s my reaction,” Roque said at a press briefing in Malacañang.
Roque had called De Lima the “mother of all drug lords” by allegedly allowing the illegal drug trade to proliferate inside the New Bilibid Prison when she was Justice secretary in exchange for funds for campaign money in 2016.
De Lima, in turn, said that she felt sorry for Roque, a human rights lawyer and law professor before he entered politics.
“He used to have some semblance of credibility. He held himself out as a defender of the oppressed. Now, it seems he has sold his own identity in exchange for a possible Senate run,” De Lima said.
“Mr. Roque, I understand, aspires to one day call himself a senator. There is nothing wrong with that per se. But just because he has bartered his dignity and reputation as a human rights lawyer, in exchange for a senatorial berth in the President’s party, it doesn’t mean that everyone are willing to go down that path,” she added.
Roque earlier said he doesn’t have the money to run for senator. He, however, thanked House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez for the endorsement.
Meanwhile, Judge Juanita Guerrero, the judge who issued the warrant to arrest De Lima, denied during a Senate hearing that she received any call from Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
‘It may be unusual but in this particular case, I don’t think she meddled in our decisions,’ said Guerrero, judge of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204.
Guerrero said she did not receive any call from Sereno or any of the justices or official of the high court to influence her in the decision to make the drug trade charge against De Lima.
“Categorically, wala po talaga [there’s really no call],” Guerrero said on Tuesday during the House justice committee’s last hearing on the impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice.
Guerrero was the first judge to order De Lima’s arrest after only four working days after the cases were filed before the Muntinlupa RTC.
At the same time, Guerrero also vouched for the integrity of her fellow judges who were originally assigned the De Lima cases:
Branch 205 Judge Amelia Fabros Corpuz and Branch 206 Judge Patria Manalastas de Leon.
“Kilala ko ho ang dalawang judges na yun, ang integrity nila ay beyond reproach, hindi sila maiimpluwensyahan [I know those two judges, their integrity is beyond reproach, they cannot be influenced)]” Guerrero said.
Guerrero appeared in the Lower House hearing the impeachment case filed by lawyer Larry Gadon, who accused Sereno of calling the Muntinlupa judges to ask them not to issue an arrest warrant against De Lima.
But Guerrero said that even though SC Deputy Court Administrator Jenny Lind Aldecoa-Delorino didn’t call her, the calls to the other two judges weren’t irregular.
“It may be unusual but in this particular case, I don’t think she meddled in our decisions,” Guerrero said.
Corpuz and De Leon, however, admitted that received calls from Delorino, but denied that the calls were an attempt to influence their decision.
The two judges said that their decision to belatedly issue their warrants of arrest against De Lima stemmed from several things that they needed to resolve first.
Delorino also defended her calls by saying it is her job as DCA to offer assistance to trial court judges, especially if they’re handling a high-profile case.
But committee chairman Representative Reynaldo Umali said it was questionable for Delorino not to call Guerrero, who is the Executive Judge of Muntinlupa RTC.
“If there’s any one person who would know what the court needs, whether security or stenographer or whatever, you would be in the best position, you would be the best person to ask for the concern of the trial court. I find it so peculiar that she would go out of her way, talking to judges directly,” Umali said.
Guerrero said that judges usually call the DCA, but didn’t agree with Umali that Delorino influenced the judges.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Sereno had sent word that she was going on leave, but the reasons for her temporary leave were not clear.
Sereno’s spokesperson Jojo Lacanilao said it is a “wellness leave” that the Chief Justice decided to take early to prepare for the trial at the Senate, but other sources said the en banc had actually asked her to go on an “indefinite leave” – something she reportedly acceded to.
The Chief Justice will go on leave on Thursday, March 1.
On Tuesday, lawyer Brenda Jay Mendoza, whose appointment became another basis for Sereno’s impeachment, also resigned as head of the Philippine Mediation Center.