Remulla says SC's Gigi Reyes ruling may apply to De Lima case
MANILA, Philippines — Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Friday that the same argument used by lawyer Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes to get released from jail after nearly nine years of detention may possibly apply to the case of former Sen. Leila de Lima.
“The same reasoning may apply to Sen. De Lima’s case,” Remulla said in a text message to reporters.
The Supreme Court’s First Division granted Reyes’ Petition for Habeas Corpus as it held that her right to a speedy trial was violated. Habeas corpus literally translates to “produce the body.” It is an order to present a person before the court to determine if the arrest or imprisonment is legal or if the inmate must be released from custody.
Reyes was the chief of staff of Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile who was accused of plunder in connection with the multi-billion peso pork barrel scam.
The SC however stressed that their grant of habeas corpus “does not adjudge the guilt or innocence of the petitioner.”
But Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said the SC’s ruling in Reyes’ case is not a “blanket precedent” and would have to be applied on a “case-to-case basis, depending on the facts of each particular case.”
He however said in a text message shared to reporters that his office “will carefully study the ramifications of the court’s resolution.”
Application to all Filipinos
For Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, the Reyes ruling must equally apply to all Filipinos, especially the poor.
“The latest decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Gigi Reyes should equally apply to all Filipinos who have been suffering from prolonged detention due to the country’s slow justice system,” Pimentel said in a text message shared to reporters.
He added that De Lima’s case is also a “candidate beneficiary of the equal application of this latest SC ruling.”
Sen. Risa Hontiveros also said that she hopes that the SC’s ruling on Reyes is applied equally and not by a double standard.
“If there is a victim of vexatious, capricious and oppressive detention, there may be no one worse off than Leila de Lima,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
Following Reyes’ release from detention, Liberal Party president Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay) said De Lima “must at least be released on bail as her prolonged detention is inordinately odious.”
“It must be recalled that de Lima has already been acquitted of one of the three cases and that principal prosecution witnesses in the two other pending cases have voluntarily recanted for having been coerced to testify, and the other witnesses have failed to pin down de Lima,” Lagman said in a statement.
De Lima will be marking six years in detention in February on illegal drugs charges she said are trumped up and politically motivated. — Xave Gregorio with reports from Kristine Joy Patag
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