(Eagle News) – The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed three separate drug-related charges against Senator Leila de Lima at the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court for her alleged participation in the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP).
The charges filed on Friday, February 17, were for violation of Republic Act No. 9165 or Dangerous Drugs Act, Section 5, penalizing the “sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation” of illegal drugs. This is in relation to to Section 26 (b) and Section 28 (criminal liability of government officials and employees) also under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director Franklin Bucayu was De Lima’s co-accused.
After the case has been raffled off to a judge, he or she may then issue an arrest warrant against De Lima, Bucayu and other co-accused.
The filing of the drug-related charges was made possible after the Court of Appeals Special Sixth Division rejected the request of Senator De Lima to stop the DOJ from pursuing the complaints against her.
The CA division cited her alleged failure to show proof that she will suffer irreparable loss if her appeal is not granted.
-De Lima vows to “fight this out”
De Lima called the filing of drug-related cases against her as a “travesty of truth and justice” and “plain and simple political persecution.”
“I will fight this out for as long as I can. They can never break my spirit…” she added.
The charges were in connection with her alleged involvement in illegal drugs when she was still the Justice Secretary, particularly with regards to the alleged illegal drug trade that she allegedly allowed inside the NBP.
The DOJ filed the cases after a five-man DOJ panel conducted a preliminary investigation last December on complaints forwarded by the National Bureau of Investigation, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, former NBI deputy directors former NBI deputy directors Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Lasala and NBP high profile inmate Jaybee Sebastian.
De Lima is insisting that the cases should be filed before the Office of the Ombudsman which is handling cases involving government officials and employees.
