MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila De Lima asserted that the media updates of her lawyers on the ongoing drug trial against her are factual, following the prosecution’s denial that the witnesses recanted their testimony against her.
“What my lawyers, particularly Atty. Boni Tacardon, the spokesperson of my legal defense team, have been sharing with media and the public as to the developments in my cases are factual,” De Lima said in her latest dispatch from Camp Crame.
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“There is no liar in our camp,” she added in Filipino.
“As their principal, I authorized my lawyers to disclose to the public material and significant particulars from witnesses’ declarations during the hearings, and other case developments in the interest of truth and transparency,” De Lima also said.
This comes after Prosecutor General Benedicto Malcontento denied Tacardon’s statements that witnesses have recanted their statements that they found links of the senator to the drug trade. An inmate witness also said he never gave money to De Lima to fund her senatorial campaign, Tacardon claimed in a statement.
But Malconento accused the legal team of De Lima of cherry-picking from what transpire in trials. In a media forum last Friday, Malcontento said: What happened was, the short answer of the witness, that is what is picked up and discussed by the media, but not the entire testimony.”
He added: “Now, it is not fair because we have to respect the independence of our courts. We will not engage in that kind of thing.”
DOJ eyes motion for contempt
The prosecutor general also said last week that they intend to filed a petition to cite in contempt De Lima’s lawyers for violating the sub judice rule, which prohibits parties from discussing in public a pending case.
Malcontento said this has been the policy from Justice Secretary Menard Guevarra: Do not discuss the merits of a pending case and consider filing petition to cite in contempt persons “who knowingly make comments or render opinions on the probative value of evidence being presented to court, with clear intent to influence the judge’s appreciation of evidence.
But De Lima asserted that the case against her is of high public interest. “Hence, the public’s right to know what’s going on in these cases cannot be stifled,” she added.
The next hearing on the case pending before Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 205 is set on November 27.