Justice chief says many legal options open to De Lima

JUSTICE SECRETARY Menardo I. Guevarra said on Wednesday that there are many legal remedies available to detained Senator Leila M. de Lima to counter the charges against her. “If you believe that the charges against you are not true, then slug it out, file it out,” he said in a media forum. “File a demurrer to evidence if you want to, file a petition for bail. So there are so many legal remedies available to her,” he added. A demurrer to evidence is filed to dismiss a case for insufficiency of evidence. An accused will be acquitted if the motion is granted. The US Senate foreign relations committee passed a resolution last year calling for the release of Ms. de Lima, a staunch critic of the administration’s war on drugs, and dropping of charges against Rappler Executive Editor Maria A. Ressa. They said the detention of Ms. De Lima is due to her political views. Philippine government officials have slammed the US senators for what they call meddling, citing that the country’s justice system is at work in Ms. De Lima’s case. Mr. Guevarra said the senator cannot be released as trial is ongoing. “She can only be released if she gets acquitted. And if she gets convicted, only executive clemency can free her because that’s life imprisonment for the offense charged,” he said. The senator has been in prison since February 2017 on the charge of conspiring to commit illegal drug trading in the national penitentiary when she was Justice secretary.