DOJ open to De Lima bail if…

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice is open to former senator Leila de Lima applying for bail if based on humanitarian grounds, DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said yesterday.

“I am amenable to granting bail to former senator De Lima, but not if her camp will base it on the merits of the drug cases filed against her,” Remulla told reporters.

Hopes for De Lima’s release heightened in February when the Supreme Court granted provisional liberty to Gigi Reyes, former chief of staff of former senator Juan Ponce Enrile and among the respondents in the pork barrel scam.

The DOJ said there is no issue in the move of the prosecution to present a new witness against De Lima, saying they are entitled to rebut the retraction of former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos.

On Monday, state prosecutors filed an urgent omnibus motion for reconsideration to reopen De Lima’s trial at the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204.

The motion was issued a day after the prosecution and the defense supposedly agreed to submit the case for decision.

“While there is no decision on the case yet, the motion is considered a good measure,” Remulla said. “The prosecution should be entitled to rebut the retraction of Ragos.”

De Lima’s camp opposed the DOJ’s move to reopen the trial of her drug case. – Ralph Edwin Villanueva