News Roundup 15 October 2022
Oct 15, 2022 • 5 min Read
Drop cases vs De Lima, US officials urge gov’t | INQUIRER.NET – US lawmakers have urged the Marcos administration and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review former Sen. Leila de Lima’s cases and “officially recognize” the lack of evidence and drop all charges against her. In an Oct. 12 letter addressed to Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla, US Senators Edward J. Markey, Richard J. Durbin, Patrick Leahy and US Representatives Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, Alan Lowenthal and Donald S. Beyer Jr. said De Lima’s “unjust imprisonment” was “extremely troubling.” “Sen. Leila de Lima has lost more than five years of her life to fabricated charges against her. Multiple witnesses have recanted their testimony, exposing the political nature of the case from the start,” the letter reads. The US Congress also asked for an “independent and impartial” investigation to find the cause of police members and other witnesses making false testimonies. In April this year, prosecution key witness Rafael Ragos, former officer in charge of the Bureau of Corrections, retracted his previous statement of delivering drug money to De Lima’s residence in 2012, saying former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has pressured him to make false claims. The DOJ dismissed Ragos’ recantation then as he was yet to testify in court. On Sept. 30, Ragos was unable to testify as the prosecution filed a motion of reconsideration opposing the order. Ragos’ lawyer Michael Christopher de Castro filed a motion to suppress and expunge all of Ragos’ affidavits as these were done “without independent competent counsel.” The lawmakers said De Lima was detained for “politically motivated charges for conspiracy to commit drug trading” and that her imprisonment has been widely condemned by the international community. The Oct. 9 hostage-taking of De Lima by another Camp Crame prisoner “further highlighted” the need to revisit the cases rather than transferring her to another detention site. The US Congress said the Marcos administration could demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law “by reviewing Senator De Lima’s case, dropping the charges against her and bringing those responsible for her unjust detention to account, you [Remulla] and President Marcos can turn the page on [former] President Duterte’s abuses.” The administration was also asked to continue to work with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to implement recommendations and address concerns raised in the Commissioner’s Sept. 12, 2022 report on the country.
No bail for Remulla son | INQUIRER.NET – Assuring the public of its independence, the Las Piñas City prosecutor’s office indicted the son of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla for illegal possession of almost a kilogram of “kush,” or high-grade marijuana, on Friday and recommended no bail for his temporary liberty. But the prosecutor’s office referred the other complaint of illegal drug importation against Juanito Jose Diaz Remulla III to its counterpart in Pasay City for preliminary investigation as the latter exercises jurisdiction over that case, Las Piñas Prosecution Attorney Jennah Marie dela Cruz told reporters in a phone interview. The state lawyer allayed fears that her office was under pressure to give any special treatment for the 38-year-old son of the Department of Justice (DOJ) chief, whose office wields enormous influence on prosecutors. “I can assure you there was no participation or intervention of any department, especially the secretary of justice. Since yesterday (Thursday) we have been blocking people from coming inside our office,” Dela Cruz said. She said her office redirected the drug importation complaint to the Pasay prosecutor because “almost all elements of the offense took place” in that city. In any case, both possession of at least 500 grams of marijuana and importation of illegal drugs carry the highest penalty under the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, which is life imprisonment after the death penalty was abolished in 2006. Both offenses are also punishable with a fine ranging from P500,000 to P10 million. The resolution finding probable cause to charge the younger Remulla with drug possession “is a joint effort of our chief, my reviewing officer and myself being the prosecutor,” Dela Cruz said. Based on the case information, Juanito was charged with “willfully, unlawfully and knowingly” having in his possession a brown paper parcel containing two tape-sealed transparent plastic bags, one containing 437.93 grams and the other 455.98 grams of marijuana. He was arrested at a house inside BF Resort Village in Barangay Talon Dos on Tuesday morning during a “controlled delivery” operation by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Ninoy Aquino International Airport-Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group. It was Juanito, according to a PDEA report, who received the marked parcel with two brown paper pouches containing kush packed in bubble wrap. The contraband has an estimated street value of P1.25 million.
Makabayan solons flag ‘double standards’ in Remulla son’s arrest | PHILSTAR.COM – Two lawmakers part of the progressive Makabayan bloc raised what they called “double standards” in the arrest of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla’s son, contrasting this with the thousands of killings of illegal drug suspects in the course of the previous administration’s “war on drugs.” “If you are rich and a child of someone in government, you will be given due process. If you’re poor, you’ll face imprisonment or a gun,” Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela party-list) said Friday in a statement in Filipino. Brosas, along with Rep. France Castro (ACT Teachers party-list), also questioned why it took two days for the arrest of Juanito Jose Remulla III to be made public. “If he weren’t the son of Sec. Boying, authorities would have most likely brought media to that drug operation and news of it immediately surfaced, or worse maybe he would’ve been killed and accused of fighting back,” Castro said in a separate statement in Filipino. The government says 6,235 people have died in anti-drug operations from July 1, 2016 to Feb. 28, 2022, but human rights groups say this is a gross undercount as they peg the number of people who were killed close to around 30,000.
