Supporters of former Senator Leila De Lima show their support for the embattled politician as she attends the promulgation on her drug case at the Muntinlupa RTC on May 12, 2023. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA - The Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 256 has yet to decide on the bail petition filed by former senator Leila de Lima.
The court on Monday asked for more time to study the documents submitted during the trial.
"Nagsabi po ang ating hukuman na he will be releasing his resolution o Senator Leila de Lima’s application for bail 'very very soon'," De Lima's legal counsel, Atty. Filibon Tacardon, said.
Tacardon said the court did not give an exact date when they will release their decision, but they are hoping that this will come soon.
He added that they understand the Court's need for more time to decide on the bail petition because of the amount of documents they submitted, which included the transcript of stenographic notes of almost 20 more witnesses.
During Monday's hearing, the prosecution also informed the court that they will be adding 20 more witnesses, which the defense questioned.
"Sa totoo lang po ito'y kinuwestyon namin dahil karamihan po ng mga witnesses, in fact all of them, except for 3, were previous presented in 2 other cases where Senator Leila de Lima and Ronnie Dayan were already acquitted," Tacardon said.
"Ang punto namin d'yan, parang nagkakaroon ng re-litigation ng kaso, and that violates the rule on double jeopardy."
The two parties later agreed that the prosecution should submit a list of the new witnesses and what they will be saying. The lawyers of the witnesses will then comment on whether they will accept the offer of stipulation or not.
De Lima's camp would most likely accept the list of witnesses since they are the same witnesses in the hearings in the two courts that acquitted De Lima's cases.
Should there be no new witnesses, it is possible that there would be no need for them to sit at the witness' stand, and their statements in previous hearings would be used instead.
The remaining case stems from Herbert Colanggo's claim that he gave around P110 million to De Lima for the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison from 2013 to 2014.
Meanwhile, De Lima's supporters held a mass outside the Muntinlupa RTC. The mass was led by Father Robert Reyes.
"Sana makalaya na ang aming kapatid. Ang tagal na po more than 6 tears na po nakakulong ang aming kapatid...Ang sabi po ng aking kapatid magdasal magdasal malapaot na po yun," De Lima's brother, Vicente, said.
De Lima also waved at her supporters before she went back to Camp Crame.
- report from Robert Mano
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