The Office of Solicitor General (OSG) has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to junk the petition of Senator Leila De Lima seeking to nullify her arrest and stop the proceedings of the drug trading case pending before a Muntinlupa City court.
De Lima's petition must be dismissed for lack of merit, the OSG said in its comment, as it slammed the senator for turning to the high court when she defied an order that allowed former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to travel abroad for medical treatment in November 2011.
"Now, she is invoking the Court's authority, specifically to restrain the respondent judge from hearing the criminal case against her, notwithstanding the rule that criminal proeedings cannot be enjoined," the OSG said in its 85-page comment.
"This bit of irony would not have raised hackles were it not for the fact that this denouement came about because of her shameless involvement in narcopolitics: during her tenure as Secretary of Justice, she allowed the drug trade to fester and flourish inside the walls of the Bilibid so that she can profit from the illicit commerce and finance her political aspirations," it added.
De Lima has been accused of complicity in the trading of illegal drugs in the national penitentiary in exchange for campaign funds during her term as justice secretary under then-President Benigno Aquino III. The lawmaker has denied the charges which she attributed to her sharp criticism of the Duterte administration's war on drugs.
In her petition, De Lima asked the SC to set aside the arrest warrant, stop the judge from conducting further proceedings, and issue a status quo ante order aimed at restoring the status prior to the issuance of arrest warrant.
The neophyte senator said Judge Juanita Guerrero of the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204 committed grave abuse of discretion when she ordered her arrest on February 23 even without resolving her motion to quash that was supposed to be heard the next day, February 24.
She said the case should have been referred by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to the Office of the Ombudsman, which has primary jurisdiction over cases cognizable by the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan.
The OSG, however, said De Lima should be tried before the RTC and not in the Sandiganbayan, citing Section 90 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, which provides that RTCs have exclusive jurisdiction to try and hear cases involving illegal drug activities.
The OSG added Guerrero did not act arbitrarily in issuing the arrest warrants against De Lima and her co-accused, her former driver-bodyguard Ronnie Dayan, and former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos.
The government lawyers said it was Guerrero's task "upon the filing of the information first and foremost determine the existence of probable cause for their arrest, regardless of the accused's stature in society."
De Lima also did not follow the heirarchy of courts and committed forum shopping, the OSG said, when she raised the issue with the SC despite the pendency of her motion with the local court.
The OSG said De Lima used her position to further her own ambition and at the same time aid those who want to destroy the country and its future by propagating illegal drugs.
"This is the highest form of depravity as it involves not only commission of a crime, but a mockery of the oath she took as servant of the Filipino people," it said.
While De Lima's supporters said that she is being persecuted by the Duterte administration, "let not her cries drown out the anguish of the thousands of victims of crime and drugs," the OSG said.
"She must not be allowed to escape liability from her past misdeeds. She must be held accountable for the countless lives that had been destroyed because she allowed illegal drugs to proliferate during her watch as Secretary of Justice," it said.
De Lima's petition will be heard in oral arguments on March 14, which is expected to be participated in by all 15 SC justices, including the two magistrates recently appointed by Duterte.
SOURCE: GMA