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De Lima's 3 co-accused ask Muntinlupa judge to inhibit from case
Philippines
Metro Manila
De Lima's 3 co-accused ask Muntinlupa judge to inhibit from case
De Lima's 3 co-accused ask Muntinlupa judge to inhibit from case
Published Jun 13, 2023 07:43 am
Three co-accused in the last remaining drug case filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against former senator Leila de Lima asked the judge to inhibit from hearing the drug case due to conflict of interest.
In a decision dated June 7 on case 17-167, Presiding Judge Romeo Buenaventura of the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 256 denied the petitions and motions for bail filed by De Lima and co-accused former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) director Franklin Jesus Bucayu, Ronnie Dayan, Joenel Sanchez and Jose Adrian Dera.
Ronnie Dayan at the Muntinlupa Hall of Justice in April 2019 (Jonathan Hicap)
Under the case, filed by the Department of Justice in February 2017, De Lima, Bucayu, Dayan, Sanchez, Dera, Wilfredo Elli and Jaybee Sebastian (now deceased) were charged for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. The DOJ alleged that between March 2013 to May 2015, the accused used inmates at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa to sell and trade dangerous drugs using mobile phones and other electronic devices, and allegedly got the proceeds amounting to P70 million. Bucayu, Dayan and Sanchez filed separate motions for inhibition against Judge Buenaventura after news reports came out that he is the brother of Emmanuel Buenaventura, who allegedly served as legal counsel to the late Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Justice, who headed the conduct of hearings in October 2016 where the co-accused testified. In a motion filed by Dayan’s lawyer, Haidee Soriano, she said, that “following the issuance of the Order of the Honorable Court dated June 7, 2023 denying the petition for bail filed by all accused, several concerned citizens gave their respective comments and reactions thereto, while some even supplied information to accused Dayan on the personal relationship of a certain Atty. Emmanuel S. Buenaventura, allegedly former counsel of the former Congressman Reynaldo T. Umali, to the Honorable Presiding Judge Romeo S. Buenaventura.” It added that when Dayan testified in another drug cases in the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204, Dayan said “he was coerced by Congressman Reynaldo T. Umali into executing a Sinumpaang Salaysay dated November 24, 2016” and that “he was assisted by the lawyer of Congressman Umali but whose name he could not remember.” Dayan learned that on Nov. 25, 2016, Atty. Buenaventura appeared in an interview with CNN Philippines and “admitted that he assisted Accused Dayan in the execution of his affidavit while Dayan was being held at the interview room of the Congress, and which affidavit was eventually used as his testimony on a hearing before the House Committee on Justice implicating his co-accused Leila M. De Lima in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison.” “Accused Dayan later on recanted his statements in that Affidavit when he testified on a separate case (Criminal Case No. 17-165) before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204,” the motion added. It added, “The fact that Atty. Emmanuel S. Buenaventura is the brother of the Presiding Judge of this Honorable Court, it behooves the Accused Dayan to protect his constitutional right as it is an infringement on his right to due process, particularly his right to be heard by an impartial judge.” “Given this consideration, there is a clear case of conflict of interest on the part of the Honorable Presiding Judge in trying the instant case. Henceforth, the Honorable Presiding Judge committed gross negligence, if not gross misconduct, in not declaring that fact that he is the brother of Atty. Emmanuel S. Buenaventura,” according to the motion. It added, “The personal relationship of the Honorable Presiding Judge to Atty. Emmanuel S. Buenaventura casts doubt on his duty to uphold the stringent standard of the ‘cold neutrality of an impartial judge’ in trying and deciding this case.” “Wherefor, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed that the Hon. Judge Romeo S. Buenaventura, Presiding Judge of this Honorable Court voluntarily inhibit himself from adjudicating the instant criminal case,” the motion stated. Sanchez’s lawyer, Jehn Louie Velandrez, also cited similar reasons in the motion to inhibit. “Impartiality is essential to the proper discharge of the judicial office. It applies not only to the decision itself but also to the process by which the decision to made. Here, we humbly submit that the Honorable Presiding Judge exhibited his partiality and as such, we respectfully move for his voluntary inhibition to preside over this case,” the motion stated. In his motion to inhibit filed by Chan Robles and Associates, Bucayu stated “the ruling of the Honorable Presiding Judge, as contained in his order dated 07 June 2023, is so clearly one-sided and so biased that, after reading the same, the accused has totally and completely lost any remaining iota of faith or trust that he had that the Honorable Presiding Judge will rule on the merits of the case with the requisite cold neutrality of an impartial judge.”
Ronnie Dayan at the Muntinlupa Hall of Justice in April 2019 (Jonathan Hicap)
Under the case, filed by the Department of Justice in February 2017, De Lima, Bucayu, Dayan, Sanchez, Dera, Wilfredo Elli and Jaybee Sebastian (now deceased) were charged for conspiracy to commit illegal drug trading. The DOJ alleged that between March 2013 to May 2015, the accused used inmates at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa to sell and trade dangerous drugs using mobile phones and other electronic devices, and allegedly got the proceeds amounting to P70 million. Bucayu, Dayan and Sanchez filed separate motions for inhibition against Judge Buenaventura after news reports came out that he is the brother of Emmanuel Buenaventura, who allegedly served as legal counsel to the late Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Justice, who headed the conduct of hearings in October 2016 where the co-accused testified. In a motion filed by Dayan’s lawyer, Haidee Soriano, she said, that “following the issuance of the Order of the Honorable Court dated June 7, 2023 denying the petition for bail filed by all accused, several concerned citizens gave their respective comments and reactions thereto, while some even supplied information to accused Dayan on the personal relationship of a certain Atty. Emmanuel S. Buenaventura, allegedly former counsel of the former Congressman Reynaldo T. Umali, to the Honorable Presiding Judge Romeo S. Buenaventura.” It added that when Dayan testified in another drug cases in the Muntinlupa RTC Branch 204, Dayan said “he was coerced by Congressman Reynaldo T. Umali into executing a Sinumpaang Salaysay dated November 24, 2016” and that “he was assisted by the lawyer of Congressman Umali but whose name he could not remember.” Dayan learned that on Nov. 25, 2016, Atty. Buenaventura appeared in an interview with CNN Philippines and “admitted that he assisted Accused Dayan in the execution of his affidavit while Dayan was being held at the interview room of the Congress, and which affidavit was eventually used as his testimony on a hearing before the House Committee on Justice implicating his co-accused Leila M. De Lima in the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison.” “Accused Dayan later on recanted his statements in that Affidavit when he testified on a separate case (Criminal Case No. 17-165) before the Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court Branch 204,” the motion added. It added, “The fact that Atty. Emmanuel S. Buenaventura is the brother of the Presiding Judge of this Honorable Court, it behooves the Accused Dayan to protect his constitutional right as it is an infringement on his right to due process, particularly his right to be heard by an impartial judge.” “Given this consideration, there is a clear case of conflict of interest on the part of the Honorable Presiding Judge in trying the instant case. Henceforth, the Honorable Presiding Judge committed gross negligence, if not gross misconduct, in not declaring that fact that he is the brother of Atty. Emmanuel S. Buenaventura,” according to the motion. It added, “The personal relationship of the Honorable Presiding Judge to Atty. Emmanuel S. Buenaventura casts doubt on his duty to uphold the stringent standard of the ‘cold neutrality of an impartial judge’ in trying and deciding this case.” “Wherefor, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed that the Hon. Judge Romeo S. Buenaventura, Presiding Judge of this Honorable Court voluntarily inhibit himself from adjudicating the instant criminal case,” the motion stated. Sanchez’s lawyer, Jehn Louie Velandrez, also cited similar reasons in the motion to inhibit. “Impartiality is essential to the proper discharge of the judicial office. It applies not only to the decision itself but also to the process by which the decision to made. Here, we humbly submit that the Honorable Presiding Judge exhibited his partiality and as such, we respectfully move for his voluntary inhibition to preside over this case,” the motion stated. In his motion to inhibit filed by Chan Robles and Associates, Bucayu stated “the ruling of the Honorable Presiding Judge, as contained in his order dated 07 June 2023, is so clearly one-sided and so biased that, after reading the same, the accused has totally and completely lost any remaining iota of faith or trust that he had that the Honorable Presiding Judge will rule on the merits of the case with the requisite cold neutrality of an impartial judge.”