(Eagle News) — Senator Leila de Lima said on Wednesday she would appeal the Supreme Court decision that junked her petition questioning the issuance of an arrest order against her.
In a handwritten statement sent to reporters on Wednesday, De Lima said her lawyers would file a motion for reconsideration before the High Court.
“(We) will continue to appeal to the source of fairness and justice of the Court. There is no other recourse but to go on fighting especially when one is innocent as I truly am,” she said.
She admitted that she was “deeply saddened and pained” by the Supreme Court decision that saw her petition dismissed.
She said it “shows the extent to which Dutertism has suppressed reason, distorted the truth, and rejected the primacy of conscience.”
“I take heart though in the thought that the six dissenters–all venerable magistrates—stood their ground,” she said.
Voting 9-6, the Supreme Court dismissed De Lima’s petition for “lack of merit.”
In the petition, De Lima had argued Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 204 Judge Juanita Guerrero committed grave abuse of discretion when she issued the arrest warrant against her despite the fact there was a pending motion to quash filed by the senator’s camp.
De Lima had also argued she should have been charged before the Ombudsman, and not before the regional trial court.
Prosecutors, however, noted that De Lima should have gone first to the appellate court before going to the Supreme Court, based on the hierarchy of courts.
They also noted that her drug-related cases fell under the jurisdiction of the regional trial court, based on the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.
De Lima, who faces cases in connection with her alleged role in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilinid Prison when she was justice secretary, has been detained in Camp Crame since her arrest in February.
