Leila questions court jurisdiction

By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) | Updated February

21, 2017 - 12:00am
4 51 googleplus1 2

MANILA, Philippines - As the likelihood of her arrest

looms, Sen. Leila de Lima has filed motions with the
Muntinlupa regional trial court contesting its jurisdiction
over the three drug charges against her.
Her camp filed the motions to have the cases transferred
to the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday right after the
cases were raffled off to judges. With the filing of the
motions, the courts may have to hold off issuing warrants
for her arrest.
The senator told reporters the drug trade charges should
have been filed with the ombudsmans office as she is a
public official.
She described the filing of charges before the RTC as
procedurally wrong and violation of jurisprudence.
So the courts must resolve this (question of jurisdiction)
first. Im hoping the judge will thoroughly study the
grounds, the issues raised by my lawyers, De Lima said.
In the meantime, they must not issue warrants of arrest,
in other words, suspend any plan to issue warrant of
arrest, she stressed.
She said the motions were prepared over the weekend in
anticipation of the raffling of her three drug cases.
The three charges were raffled off to judges Juanita
Guerrero, Amelia Fabros-Corpuz and Patria Manalastas-
de Leon.
De Lima said the DOJ fabricated the cases in such a way
that she would be charged with non-bailable offenses.
Senators, led by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III,
held a caucus on De Limas case. De Lima did not attend
the meeting.
Pimentel said the Senate should respect the
independence of the judiciary. We should not even
predict or anticipate and publicly state what the court
should do. And then of course, theoretically speaking, if a
member of the Senate is arrested, we are all concerned
about the safety of that person, Pimentel said.
With the filing of drug charges, Vice President Leni
Robredo called on the administration to accord De Lima
due process.
If there are accusations against her, I hope she will be
given due process, Robredo said in an interview in
Cagayan de Oro City. Robredo and De Lima belong to the
once ruling Liberal Party.
The Department of Justice filed drug charges against De
Lima, who previously headed the agency. With Helen
Flores