De Lima hopeful of SC justices to side with her camp’s position

FILE: De Lima also said she is “up teary-eyed and deeply moved” after reading the opinions of the six justices who voted in favor of her appeal. (Photo by Avito C. Dalan/PNA)

After the Supreme Court (SC) junked to recall the arrest warrant issued against her, detained Senator Leila De Lima is hopeful that the high court justices will be convinced of her camp’s position once the plea for reconsideration is presented to them.

“Hope that a few more Justices of the Supreme Court would be convinced of the merits of our position once our plea for reconsideration is presented to them. Hope that they find both the wisdom and the fortitude to vote equally according to the dictates of their reason and to the counsel of their conscience – either one of which would lead them to see the blatant lies, or the sheer and apparent acts of abuse of power committed in this case,” De Lima said.

“Hope that they realize that to make an innocent person suffer the rigors of trial – when the State has not even legitimately discharged its burden of, at the very least, truly proving probable cause – is already, by itself, its own form of injustice,” the senator added.

Voting 9-6, the SC voted to scrap De Lima’s motion to recall her arrest warrant issued by the Muntinlupa Regional Court.

[Read: SC dismisses De Lima’s plea to recall arrest warrant]

Earlier, De Lima said she is “saddened and pained” by the decision of the high court scrapping her petition to recall her arrest, saying the decision “legitimizes oppression and political persecution”.

“I am deeply saddened and pained by the Supreme Court decision dismissing my petition. I had hoped that the justices who decided against my petition can feel the pain of someone who is sent to prison and yet is innocent of any crime, and has merely fallen victim to the strong arm of the State and the President’s deeply-rooted vengeance against her,” she said.

[Read: ‘Sad and pained’ De Lima to appeal court’s decision on arrest]

De Lima also said she is “up teary-eyed and deeply moved” after reading the opinions of the six justices who voted in favor of her appeal.

“More than erudite dissertations on the legal issues of jurisdiction, probable cause and the lis mota of a drug trading or trafficking charge under RA 9165, the opinions are outstanding in their vigorous assertion of the primacy of constitutional issues and substantial justice over rigid technicalities,” De Lima said.

“Their lamentations on the unjustness of the Velasco ponencia reveal the dissenters’ underlying belief in my innocence, which is, to be completely honest, most important to me on a personal level. It means so much to me, knowing that people believe in my innocence and my causes,” she added.

The six justices who voted to recall De Lima’s arrest warrant were Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and Associate Justices Estela Perlas- Bernabe, Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa, and Francis Jardeleza.

De Lima, who is facing three criminal charges for allegedly receiving kickbacks from New Bilibid Prison drug lords during her term as the justice secretary, is currently detained at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center inside Camp Crame in Quezon City.