Former senators Juan Ponce Enrile (left) and Leila de Lima (Facebook)
If former senator Juan Ponce Enrile was able to get bail in the past, then why not former senator Leila de Lima?
Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman left this question in the minds of Filipinos Thursday, June 8 as he dissected the rejection of De Lima's bail petition by a Muntinlupa City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
"In granting bail to former Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile in the plunder case against him (Enrile v. Sandiganbayan, Aug. 18, 2015), the standards used by the Supreme Court (SC) were Enrile's: (a) presumption of innocence; (b) voluntary surrender; (c) not being a flight risk; and (d) fragile health," Lagman, said in a statement.
"All of these standards apply to De Lima," noted the self-styled independent minority congressman.
"She enjoys the presumption of innocence, she peacefully surrendered, is definitely not a flight risk, and her failing health condition should not approximate impending death for her to be granted temporary liberty," he said.
According to Lagman, "The prolonged gestation for more than six years of the prosecution against De Lima while she suffers in jail is oppressive and violates her constitutional right to speedy trial, as similarly held in Reyes v. Director of Camp Bagong Diwa (Jan. 17, 2023)."
Thus, he said that the granting of De Lima's bail request should have been warranted.
"The right to bail is rendered illusory if the grant is strictly withheld," noted the Bicolano and president of the Liberal Party (LP).
De Lima, also a former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary, is in jail for her alleged links to the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP). Her term in the Senate lasted from 2016 to 2022.
She has been detained at the Philippine National Police (PNP) Custodial Center in Camp Crame since 2017.
"The web of contrived evidence against De Lima in the three 'drug cases' are interrelated. Her prior acquittal in the two out of the three related 'drug cases' should have impelled the granting of her bail because the totality of the prosecution’s evidence is patently feeble," Lagman, a lawyer, further said.