MikeLigalig.com

Justice Caguioa assails SC ruling on De Lima

Marlon Ramos
Reporter, Philippine Daily Inquirer
October 17, 2017


Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa

Why did the majority of Supreme Court justices treat detained Sen. Leila de Lima differently from two plunder suspects—former President and currently Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.?

Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa posed this question as he criticized nine of his colleagues on the Supreme Court who voted to ditch De Lima’s petition seeking her release from detention and the junking of the drug trafficking charges brought against her by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Caguioa, who succeeded De Lima as justice secretary in 2015, wrote a strongly worded dissent to the majority decision written by Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr.

Voting 9-6, the 15-member tribunal held that De Lima’s petition for certiorari lacked merit and that Presiding Judge Juanita Guerrero of Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 did not commit grave abuse of discretion in ordering the senator’s arrest.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=87707.0

“The real concern is this: If this can be done to a sitting senator of the Republic of the Philippines, then this can be done to any citizen,” he added.

Caguioa explained why the complaint filed by DOJ prosecutors was flawed and should have been dismissed outright for its failure to comply with the requirements set by Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, in prosecuting drug cases.

As pointed out by De Lima’s lead lawyer, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, Caguioa said, the complaint did not identify what kind of illegal drugs the senator supposedly traded and who were the buyers and sellers.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=87707.0

Citing the high court’s previous rulings, Caguioa maintained that the rules on the hierarchy of courts, forum shopping and verification were set by the court to “facilitate rather than frustrate the ends of justice.”

Actually, he said, the court had previously recognized the extent of a certiorari petition when it granted Arroyo’s demurrer to evidence despite the rule “denying a demurrer shall not be reviewable by appeal or certiorari before judgment.”

“Why could not [De Lima], in this case, be allowed to avail [herself] of the comprehensive and useful certiorari action even if she did not comply strictly with the procedural rules? Why is she being treated differently?” he asked.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=87707.0