MANILA – The Supreme Court, voting 9-6, this week dashed hopes of Sen. Leila de Lima to end her detention of over 200 days on drug-related charges, striking down her petition questioning the jurisdiction of a Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court over her case, among others.
The Department of Justice had accused the senator of abetting the drug trade at National Bilibid Prison during the time she was Secretary of Justice in the Aquino administration.
Justice Presbitero Velasco was the ponente of G.R. No. 229781 (Senator Leila M. de Lima vs Hon. Juanita Guerrero …); he wrote the decision. Justices Bersamin, Reyes and Gesmundo, on the other hand, did not write separate concurring opinions.
Senator De Lima, detained at the PNP Custodial Center in Camp Crame, is expected to file a motion for reconsideration.
Inline scrollable copies of the decision as well as concurring/dissenting opinions follow below:
The decision penned by Justice Presbitero Velasco:
Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro’s concurring opinion:
Justice Mariano del Castillo’s concurring opinion:
Justice Samuel Martires’s concurring opinion:
Justice Diosdado Peralta’s concurring opinion:
Justice Noel Tijam’s concurring opinion:
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s dissenting opinion:
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio’s dissenting opinion:
Justice Marvic Leonen’s dissenting opinion:
Justice Francis Jardeleza’s dissenting opinion:
Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe’s separate concurring and dissenting opinion:
Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa’s dissenting opinion:
