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By Prince Golez, Manila Reporter
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Tuesday, February 28, 2017
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MANILA – Sen. Leila de Lima has asked the Supreme Court to issue a status quo order on her arrest and detention for alleged drug trafficking.
De Lima on Monday specifically questioned the issuance of the arrest order by Judge Juanita Guerrero of Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court, Branch 204.
At present, the senator is detained at the Philippine National Police’s Custodial Center for alleged violating Section 5, in relation to Section 3, Section 26 (b) and Section 28, or the criminal liability of government officials and employees of Republic Act 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
According to the senator, Judge Guerrero acted with undue haste and inordinate arrest in her order to arrest the former Justice secretary.
Guerrero’s acts, de Lima said, also violated her constitutional, legal and procedural rights.
“Haste, when unduly applied in the context of the criminal justice system, such that it constitutes a blatant failure to respect and uphold a person’s fundamental rights, and to observe the guarantees enshrined in the Constitution to protect the rights of the accused, it results in something far more destructive, more pestilent and graver than mere imperfection,” de Lima’ 82-page petition stated.
Her legal spokesman Alex Padilla also argued the high court should have resolved the issue of lack of jurisdiction first before her warrant of arrest was issued.
Their camp filed a motion to quash the information and to hold the issuance of warrant of arrest pending the resolution of the question of jurisdiction when de Lima’s case was raffled off to Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204.
“The issuance of a warrant of arrest by a court that has no jurisdiction over the case makes such Warrant obviously and patently null and without basis, thus making senator De Lima’s detention on the basis thereof illegal,” Padilla explained.
De Lima maintained that the Sandiganbayan, not the Regional Trial Court, has jurisdiction over the offense she was accused of as secretary of the Justice department.
The criminal acts she allegedly committed, specifically receiving drug money from Bilibid inmates, are distinct from the charges actually leveled against her before the court, she said.
“There is no allegation, much less proof from the records that would show that the criminal activities of the New Bilibid Prison inmates were participated in by the accused,” the senator noted.
She also chastised the case filed against her, saying that it relied on the testimonies of “highly questionable” individuals.
Twelve of the witnesses who implicated her in the illegal drug trade have been convicted of heinous crimes, de Lima, adding that six of whom have pending criminal cases before the Muntinlupa RTC.
“The panel of prosecutors who should serve as bastions of the rule of law, completely ignored the glaring character of the testimonies against the accused as hearsay evidence that have no probative value ” she ended./PN
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