De Lima’s motion on drug case denied

Detained Sen. Leila de Lima’s motion to quash the case of conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) was denied by a Muntinlupa City court yesterday.

Sen. De Lima attended the hearing at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 206 presided by Judge Lorna Navarro-Domingo.

Also present were co-accused Ronnie Dayan and Joenel Sanchez.

The court has allowed the DOJ to amend the charges against De Lima from illegal drug trading to conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

De Lima’s camp filed a motion for reconsideration before the court, seeking to reverse its decision to deny the motion to quash.

Hence, the court has reset De Lima’s arraignment to July 27.

The senator, Dayan, Sanchez, former Bureau of Corrections director Franklin Jesus Bucayu, Wilfredo Elli, inmate Jaybee Nino Sebastian and Jose Adrian Dera are accused of conspiring to commit illegal drug trading using prisoners at the New Bilibid Prison while she was still the justice secretary and pocketing P70 million.

Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Ramoncito Ocampo Jr. said four other co-accused in the case are willing to be arraigned but ‘legal skirmishes’ are delaying the case.

The defense has said that the prosecution has failed to provide the “corpus delicti,” or the elements of the crime, saying that in De Lima’s case, the illegal drugs involved.

But Ocampo said “we have already made the pronouncement that in Section 26 (under RA 9165), corpus delicti is not required, meaning to say yung drugs. But what is the corpus delicti is the conspiracy (to commit illegal drug trading) itself.”