With no prosecution witness, judge calls off De Lima hearing

A hearing on detained Senator Leila de Lima’s drug trading case came to an abrupt end on Tuesday after the prosecution failed to present its first witness, former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) head, Director Benjamin Magalong.

Boni Tacardon, De Lima’s lawyer, said that Judge Lorna Navarro-Domingo of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court’s Branch 206 got angry at prosecutors for “wasting the time of the court.” Earlier, they wanted to change their first witness to Engelberto Durano, a former policeman convicted for murder and kidnapping.

A change of plan

According to Tacardon, the prosecution filed a manifestation requesting the change on Thursday despite the fact that last month, both parties already agreed on a list of witnesses and the order in which they would testify. The choice of Durano also posed problems for the court because he was detained at New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

Lead prosecutor Ramoncito de Ocampo cited the need to change the sequence as “part of our strategy.” Tacardon, however, said the prosecution likely realized that Magalong would “not be the best witness to prove [De Lima’s] guilt.”

Two witnesses next time

With no witnesses to present in court, the prosecution was ordered to present two witnesses during the next hearing on Sept. 11.

Tacardon said the witnesses they would present to prove De Lima’s innocence included journalists, police officers who were part of a team that raided the NBP when the senator was still the justice secretary, and possibly even Magalong who coordinated with De Lima for the raid.

“We have people in the drug campaign before who will show that Senator De Lima herself was waging a war against illegal drugs inside the NBP,” Tacardon added.

Magalong, who was also the Philippine National Police’s deputy chief for operations, told a congressional inquiry in 2016 that De Lima had excluded the CIDG when she carried out the raid on NBP, even though the operation was based on a plan they had crafted.

But he still described the raid as a “success” because it yielded contraband and weapons, and led to the identification of several convicts involved in the illegal drug trade.

On Tuesday, De Lima’s lawyer also questioned why she was being barred from speaking to the media.

De Lima silenced

“She’s just a detainee, still presumed to be innocent, so why deprive her of her right to speak to the media?” Tacardon told the Inquirer.

He added that her freedom of expression, “as President Duterte said,” should be respected, alluding to Malacañang’s defense of the President’s most recent, widely-criticized rape joke.

The scores of security personnel tasked with escorting De Lima in and out of the justice hall had devised creative means of blocking access to the senator such as raising their hands to obstruct photos and coughing in unison when journalists shout out questions.

These, however, have not prevented De Lima from issuing short statements such as “Rape is never a joke” during a hearing on Monday. Longer updates on her cases and disposition, however, are often left to her legal team.

Don’t miss out on the latest news and information.