Detained Senator Leila de Lima has asked a Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC judge to voluntarily inhibit from her drug case, saying she has lost faith in her capability to render justice in one of her two remaining cases.
De Lima is referring to Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205 Judge Liezel Aquiatan who earlier granted her demurrer to evidence but dismissed her demurrer and petition to bail in a Joint Omnibus Order and ordered the trial to proceed on the case she is facing with former aide and co-accused Ronnie Dayan.
“This motion for voluntary inhibition, apart from documenting for posterity the unacceptable errors of the Honorable Presiding Judge and her failure to uphold her sworn oath, is intended to give her the chance to ascertain whether she is still fit to continue presiding in this case,” De Lima said in a 49-paged motion.
“The Honorable Presiding Judge is urged to revisit her conscience. Can she sleep soundly at night, knowing the unjustness of her recent orders with respect to this case and the fact that innocent individuals are, in the meantime, deprived of their freedom?” she also stated in the document.
De Lima, in a 70-paged motion for reconsideration filed last Feb. 22, accused Aquiatan of “cherry picking.” She asked the judge to reconsider her earlier decision to denying her bid to post bail and junk one of her drug case, which she said, is bogus.
But Aquiatan later ruled in a two-page order last March 5 that the court stands with its Omnibus Order to continue with the trial.
De Lima said the blatant errors contained in her orders in relation to her case compelled her to invoke her right to a fair trial before an impartial judge.
Among the errors she cited in her motion include Aquiatan’s wrong application of legal principles just to accommodate inadmissible evidence and the erroneous theory of the prosecution and giving wholesale credence to questionable and incredible testimonies without even considering material points raised by the defense.
She also lamented how the judge fully believed the testimony of NBI intelligence agent Jovencio Ablen, Jr., former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos, former Bilibid inmate Gerry Valeroso, and Bilibid inmate Nonito Arile without even assessing the very credibility of these witnesses done through cross-examinations.
“The Honorable Presiding Judge’s failure to consider any part of the cross-examinations of the counsel for both accused renders nugatory all the time and effort devoted by the Defense to scrutinize the witnesses,” she said.
“To repeat, not a single word in the Omnibus Order was devoted to discuss any of the cross-examinations,” she pointed out.
De Lima said it was clear that the presiding judge provided a lopsided analysis of the evidence on record in her order and “only chose to entertain and appreciate the narrative weaved by the prosecution.”
For the senator, this means the judge is not inclined to consider whatever evidence and arguments she may have. She stressed she deserves a presiding judge who will dispense justice without fear or favor.
“Considering her recent actions, it appears that the honorable presiding judge is not that judge,” De Lima said.