Velasco hits De Lima accusation he pushed for drug lord to win

Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. denied the allegation of detained Senator Leila de Lima that he “pushed for the acquittal of convicted drug lord German Agojo when the Supreme Court division deliberated on the case in 2009.”

In a statement, Velasco commented on De Lima’s motion asking the Supreme Court to inhibit him (Velasco) from the deliberation of her petition seeking release from detention and stop her indictment for drug trading charges.

In a 10-page motion filed by her lawyer, Alexander Padilla, De Lima said Velasco is “unfit to decide the case at bar due to conflict of interest” as she cited his prior actuations in connection with the case of German Agojo in 2009.

She said that Velasco, who was a member of the division that handles the said case, initially disagreed with the decision of the rest of the division composed of then Associate Justices Dante Tinga (the ponente of the decision), Leonardo Quisumbing, ConchitaCarpio-Morales and Ar- turo Brion and pushed for Agojo’s acquittal.

Agojo was convicted by the Tanauan Regional Trial Court (RTC) in 1999 for selling methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu. In 2007, the lower court’s ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeals and subsequently, the SC.

He was allegedly the mastermind behind the 2004 killing of Judge Voltaire Rosales who convicted him on the drug charges.

“The inordinate link and actuations of Justice Velasco with regard to German Agojo will significantly taint the credibility of the impending decision of the Honorable Supreme Court if he is to participate in the deliberations of the instant case and permitted to signify his position accordingly,” read the motion.

“It is settled in our jurisprudence that the cold neutrality of an impartial judge is an essential part of due process. Thus, it is necessary for the judge to reassure litigants of his being fair and being just,” De Lima said in her motion.